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Candlemas

Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and misletoe
Down with the holly, ivy, all,
Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas Hall
That so the superstitious find
No one least branch there left behind
For look, how many leaves there be
Neglected, there (maids, trust to me)
So many goblins you shall see.

Robert Herrick, 1591-1674

Today, February 2, is Candlemas Day: the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. This is the day, forty days after the Nativity, when Mary brought Jesus to the Temple to offer a sacrifice for her purification after giving birth to a boy, as prescribed by the Mosaic law.

And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord: […]
And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon: and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was in him.
And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
And he came by the Spirit into the temple.
And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, He also took him into his arms and blessed God and said
Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace:
Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people
Israel.

And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother:
Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be contradicted.
And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts
thoughts may be revealed.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser. She was far advanced in years and had lived with
her husband seven years from her virginity.
And she was a widow until fourscore and four years: who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day.
Now she, at the same hour, coming in, confessed to the Lord: and
spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel.
And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city Nazareth.

Luke II:22-39

The feast is often called Candlemas because it is the day which candles of beeswax are blessed, while reciting the antiphon ‘Lumen ad revelationem gentium et gloriam plebis tuæ Israel’ from the canticle of Simeon cited above.

In Scotland, the Protestant revolution did away with all that, but Candlemas remained as a legal quarter day. At St Andrews, the second semester is Candlemas term. There used to be trimesters, consisting of Martinmas, Candlemas, and Whitsun terms, but the semester system was introduced during the 1990’s and Whitsun term faced the axe. Some folks at St Andrews, however, refer to the part of the second semester after the two-week Easter holiday as Whitsun or Whitsunday term.

In America, the day evolved into Groundhog Day, the earliest recording of which dates from the diary of Pennsylvania storekeeper in 1841:

Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.

UPDATE: Dr. Curmudgeon & Co. have a good Candlemas post.

Candlemas:
Catholic Encyclopaedia
Wikipedia
Groundhog Day:
Wikipedia

Published at 8:57 am on Wednesday 2 February 2005. Categories: Church Tradition.
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