Staffan Stalledräng - who was he really?

Writer: Helena Bergström

Updated: September 2026 | Who was Staffan Stalledräng really? Why did he water his five foals, and how did a Christian martyr from Jerusalem end up in our Swedish Lucia processions? The story of Staffan contains both saints and legends, horses and knights – and even a roasted rooster that started crowing.

Who was Staffan Stalledräng?

”Staffan was a stable boy, he waters his foals five …” We sing the words every year around Lucia without perhaps thinking much about what they really mean. Why is Staffan a stable boy? Why does he have five horses? And what does it all have to do with Lucia?

The answer is a bit complicated – and very exciting. The Staffan in our ballads has its origins in the Christian martyr Stefanos, but the story changed on its long journey through Europe and the Nordic countries. Here the Christian story of the saint was mixed with legends, old horse traditions and folk Christmas customs.

In the end, Staffan ended up where we find him today: among the star boys in the Swedish Lucia train.

Staffan was actually Saint Stephen.

The biblical Stephen, also called Stephanus, Stefan or Staffan, lived during the very early days of Christianity. He is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as one of seven men appointed to special duties within the early Christian congregation in Jerusalem.

Stephen preached the Christian faith, which led to his being accused of blasphemy. After a long speech before the Jewish council, he was taken out of the city and stoned to death.

He is usually considered the first martyr of Christianity after Jesus and is revered as a saint. His feast day falls on December 26, which is the second day of Christmas. That's as far as the Bible goes. However, there is nothing in it that Stefanos was a stable boy. And not a word about five foals. That came later.

In the North, the saint became a stable boy

As stories of Saint Stephen spread across Europe, new legends emerged. In the Nordic countries, Staffan gained a particularly strong connection to horses.

It was hardly a coincidence. The horse had played an important role in Nordic culture long before the introduction of Christianity, and around Christmas there were various customs that concerned horses and their well-being.

When the Christian story of Stefanos met Nordic traditions, the saint changed. Here he could instead become Staffan Stalledräng, a man who worked for King Herod and took care of his horses.

It's a fascinating example of how traditions can change when they move from one place to another.

The legend of Staffan and the Star of Bethlehem

In the Norse legend, Staffan works as a stable boy for King Herod. On Christmas Eve, he rides out to water the king's horses. Then something strange happens.

One of the horses sees The Star of Bethlehem's reflection in the water, gets scared and jumps up. Staffan looks up at the sky and sees the shining star. He understands that something big has happened: a new king has been born.

The story became popular in the Nordic countries and Staffan, along with his horses and the star, is depicted in Swedish medieval churches. In Dädesjö Old Church in Småland, for example, there are 13th-century paintings with motifs from the Staffan legend.

Suddenly the old song becomes a little more understandable: He waters his five foals, all for the bright star.

The rooster pound – when the fried rooster began to crow

An even stranger legend about Staffan is the story of the so-called the rooster pound. When Staffan sees the Star of Bethlehem, he rushes to King Herod and tells him that a new king has been born. Herod refuses to believe him.

It is as impossible, he says according to the story, as if the roasted rooster on his table would stand up and crow. And then, of course, that is exactly what happens. The rooster stands up and begins to crow.

The motif may sound like a modern internet legend, but the story is very old. The cockerel is depicted on the medieval altar front from Broddetorp Church in Västergötland, which dates to the end of the 12th century.

Stephen, Herod and the resurrected rooster have thus existed together in Swedish picture stories for more than 800 years.

Staffan became the saint of horses

The connection between Staffan and horses became so strong over time that the saint came to be regarded as patron saint of horses.

Boxing Day, December 26, therefore became an important day for the horses. They could be given extra care and ridden out early in the morning.

From these traditions also developed something called St. Stephen's Day or Staffans stage. And then the story of the five foals starts to get even more interesting.

St. Staffans' Ride – when you ride out on Boxing Day

The St. Stephen's Day procession traditionally took place on Boxing Day, i.e. on St. Stephen's Day.

Young men would set out with their horses early in the morning to ride to a spring or stream. In folk belief, the water on this day could have special properties, and in various places there were beliefs about how and where the horses should be watered to stay healthy and strong during the coming year.

In some traditions, the horses would drink from north-flowing water. In others, one could ride between several different springs or streams.

However, it wasn't just about water. The riders could also compete against each other, and the Staffansritten developed in some places into a real race. An older word for race is phase, which explains the name Staffansskede. The quiet Christmas holiday thus seems not to have always been quite so quiet…

After the ride, Staffansöl and Staffanssång awaited

When the riders returned, the festivities could continue. Young people went around the farms, singing St. Staffan's songs and collecting food and drink for a common feast. Staffans Guild or Staffansöl.

There are many local variations on the traditions. What is common is that in some places, Boxing Day developed into a day with horses, singing, youth antics and festivities. The St. John's Day songs were not originally Lucia songs. They belonged around Boxing Day.

But what does Staffan have to do with the star boys?

Here comes the next piece of the puzzle. Parallel to the Staffan traditions, there were the star boy tradition, with roots in medieval church plays about the birth of Jesus and the wise men who followed the Star of Bethlehem.

Over time, different Christmas customs began to blend together. The singing of St. John's Day became associated with the wanderings of the star boys, and the St. John's songs became part of their repertoire.

There is also a practical connection between the stories: the star. The Star Boys follow the Star of Bethlehem – and in the legend it is the same star that Staffan sees when he waters the horses. But one question still remains. How did the whole gang end up with Lucia?

From Boxing Day to the Lucia Train

The Lucia procession we know today is actually a concoction of traditions that originally didn't belong together at all. Lucia had her traditions. Stjärngossarna had theirs. Staffan had his.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the different customs began to merge more and more. The Star Boys eventually became part of the Lucia procession – and since they sang St. Staffan songs, they also followed Staffan Stalledräng Join the Lucia train.

In this way, the song effectively moved from Stefano's own saint's day on December 26 to Lucia on December 13. That's why today's star boys can stand in white shirts and ostrich hats and sing about a stable boy watering five horses.

READ MORE: Facts about Lucia - 15 things you (maybe) didn't know

What does "fåläs fäm" mean?

And then of course we have to sort out the horses. A steed is actually a young horse, but the word has also been used more generally and poetically for horses. Staffan's five foals appear in various versions of the Staffan poems.

In a well-known version, the horses are different colors, and Staffan himself rides it. apple gray. Apple gray roughly means gray with lighter or darker round spots – what in the horse world is usually described as a mold with apple markings.

The five foals thus belong to the folk tradition and legends surrounding Staffan, not to the story of the biblical Stephen.

So, who was Staffan Stalledräng really?

The answer depends on which Staffan we mean. Behind the figure is Stefanos, the early Christian martyr who was stoned to death in Jerusalem and whose feast day is celebrated on December 26. But the Staffan we sing about is also the result of many hundreds of years of storytelling.

When the legend of the saint came to the Nordic countries, Staffan was given horses. He became a stable boy for Herod, saw the Star of Bethlehem, became the patron saint of horses and was associated with the St. Stephen's Day Rites. His songs were taken up by the star boys – who in turn ended up with Lucia.

Eventually he stood there, in the middle of the Swedish Lucia procession. And all of that fits into a few lines that most of us have sung since we were children:

Staffan was a stable boy,
he waters his foals five …

Next time it might be hard not to think about the crowing rooster, the racing youngsters and all the horses going out to drink water on Monday morning.