(Redirected from Candlemas)
The 'Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple' (also known as 'Candlemas' or 'Feast of the Purification of the Virgin') celebrates an early episode in the life of
Jesus. In the
Roman Catholic Church, the Presentation is a feast celebrated on
2 February and is the fourth Joyful Mystery of the
Rosary. In the
Eastern Orthodox Church, it is one of the twelve
Great Feasts, and is sometimes called ''Hypapante'' (lit., 'Meeting'). In many Western liturgical churches,
Evening Prayer (or
Night Prayer) on the Feast of the Presentation marks the end of the
Epiphany season. In the
Church of England, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas) is a
Principal Feast celebrated either on 2 February or on the Sunday between 28 January and 3 February. In some
Protestant churches, the feast is known as the Naming of Jesus.
Within the Roman Catholic Church, since the liturgical reforms of the
Second Vatican Council, this feast has been referred to as the Feast of
Presentation of the Lord, with references to candles and the purification of Mary de-emphasised in favor of the Prophecy of
Simeon the Righteous.
Its formal name is either the festival of the 'Purification of the Virgin' (especially in the
uniate rites of the Catholic Church), or the 'Presentation of Jesus in the Temple' (especially in the
Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church). In the
Orthodox Church it is known as 'The Feast of the Presentation of our Lord and Savior in the Temple', and in
Anglican Churches it is known by various names, including 'The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in The Temple' (
ECUSA), 'The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary' (
Anglican Church of Canada), and 'The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas)' (
Church of England), and 'The Presentation of Christ in the Temple' (
Anglican Church of Australia). It is known as the 'Presentation of Our Lord' in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Scripture
The event is described in the
Gospel of Luke 2:22–40. According to the gospel,
Mary and
Joseph took the baby Jesus to the
Temple in
Jerusalem forty days after his birth to dedicate him to God, in line with Jewish law of the time.
Upon bringing Jesus to the temple, the family encountered
Simeon; the gospel records that Simeon had been promised ''"he should not see death before he had seen the
Messiah of the Lord."'' (Luke 2:26) Simeon prayed the prayer that would become known as the
Nunc Dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, and prophesied regarding Jesus. The
prophetess
Anna (Bible) was also in the Temple, and offered prayers and praise to God for Jesus.
Traditional Candlemas
Traditionally Candlemas was the last feast in the
Christian year that was dated by reference to
Christmas; subsequent
moveable feasts are calculated with reference to
Easter, so prior to the liturgical reforms of the
Second Vatican Council, Candlemas marked the end of the Christmas and
Epiphany season.
[1] The present Roman calendar substitutes the Saturday before the
Baptism of the Lord as the final day of the Christmas liturgical season.
The term "Candlemas" refers to the practice found in former
Roman Missals whereby a priest on February 2 would bless the
candles with an
aspergilium for use during the year (said candles must be of
beeswax). This practice is called for in the present Roman Missal in which candles are still blessed, some of which are distributed to the faithful for use in the home. In Poland the feast is called "Matka Boska Gromniczna" ("Matka Boska" = "the Mother of God"+"Gromnica" = "beewax candle").
Date
In the Catholic
liturgical calendar the Presentation of the Lord falls on
February 2, forty days after
Christmas. In the Church of England it may be celebrated on this day, or on the Sunday between 28 January and 3 February. In those Eastern churches that have kept the
Julian Calendar, 2 February comes out as
February 15 of the modern calendar.
The date of Candlemas is established by the date set for the
Nativity of
Jesus, for it comes forty days afterwards. Under
Mosaic law as found in the
Torah, a mother who had given birth to a man-child was considered unclean for seven days; moreover she was to remain for three and thirty days "in the blood of her purification." Candlemas therefore corresponds to the day on which Mary, according to Jewish law
[2] should have attended a ceremony of
ritual purification. The gospel of :22–39 relates that Mary was purified according to the religious law, followed by Jesus' presentation in the
Jerusalem temple, and this explains the formal names given to the festival.
In the West, the date of Christmas is now fixed on 25 December, and Candlemas therefore falls the following 2 February. The dating is identical among Orthodox Christians, except that the ecclesiastic 25 December of most Orthodox Christians falls on 7 January of the civil calendar due to a theological dispute related to the adoption of the
Gregorian calendar, meaning that most Orthodox Christians celebrate the feast on 15 February.
In the
Armenian Apostolic Church, the Feast, called "The Coming of the Son of God into the Temple", is also celebrated on February 15.
History
The earliest reference to a celebration was recorded by the intrepid pilgrim nun
Egeria, travelling in the Holy Land,
381–
384 AD; Egeria reported that February 14 was a day solemnly kept in Jerusalem with a procession to Constantine's Basilica of the Resurrection, with a homily on :22 (which makes the occasion perfectly clear), and a Liturgy. This so-called ''Itinerarium Peregrinatio'' ("Pilgrimage Itinerary") of Egeria does not offer a name for the Feast, however.
The date February 14 proves that in Jerusalem at that time, Christ's birth was celebrated on
January 6,
Epiphany. Egeria writes for her beloved fellow nuns at home:
: "XXVI The fortieth day after the Epiphany is undoubtedly celebrated here with the very highest honor, for on that day there is a procession, in which all take part, in the Anastasis, and all things are done in their order with the greatest joy, just as at Easter. All the priests, and after them the bishop, preach, always taking for their subject that part of the Gospel where Joseph and Mary brought the Lord into the Temple on the fortieth day, and Symeon and Anna the prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, saw Him, treating of the words which they spake when they saw the Lord, and of that offering which His parents made. And when everything that is customary has been done in order, the sacrament is celebrated, and the dismissal takes place."
In
542 the feast was established throughout the Eastern Empire by
Justinian. In
Rome, the feast appears in the ''
Gelasian Sacramentary'', a manuscript collection of the seventh and eighth centuries associated with
Pope Gelasius I, but with many interpolations and some forgeries. There it carries for the first time the new title of the feast of Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Late in time though it may be, Candlemas is still the most ancient of all the festivals in honor of the Virgin Mary. The date of the feast in Rome was moved forward to
February 2, since during the late fourth century the Roman feast of Christ's nativity been introduced as
December 25.
Though modern laypeople picture Candlemas as an important feast throughout the
Middle Ages in
Europe, in fact it spread slowly in the West; it is not found in the ''Lectionary'' of Silos (
650) nor in the ''Calendar'' (
731–
741) of
Sainte-Geneviève of Paris.
The tenth century
Benedictional of St. Æthelwold,
bishop of Winchester, has a formula used for blessing the candles. Candlemas did become important enough to find its way into the secular calendar. It was the traditional day to remove the cattle from the hay meadows, and from the field that was to be ploughed and sown that spring. References to it are common in later medieval and early Modern literature;
Shakespeare's ''
Twelfth Night'' is recorded as having its first performance on Candlemas Day,
1602. It remains one of the
Scottish quarter days, at which debts are paid and law courts are in session.
Candlemas is chiefly observed today in the
Eastern Orthodox, and
Anglican traditions. In the Orthodox traditions it is the day on which believers bring beeswax candles to their local church to blessed for use in the church or in the home.
Relation to non-Christian celebrations
Candlemas depends on the date for Christmas: Candlemas follows 40 days after. Thus there is no independent meaningfulness to the date of Candlemas. It is plausible that some features of
Pagan observances were incorporated into Christian rites of Candlemas when the celebration of Candlemas spread to the north and west of Europe.
Modern Pagans have argued that Candlemas is a
Christianization of the
Gaelic festival of
Imbolc, which was celebrated in pre-Christian
Europe (and especially the
Celtic Nations) at about the same time of year. This festival marked the mid-way point between the
Winter Solstice and the spring
equinox. The term "Imbolc" translates as either "in milk" or "in the belly," and marked the birth and nursing of the spring lambs as a sign of the first stirrings of spring in the middle of winter.
It may also have been celebrated with the lighting of candles, as slightly longer days begin to be noticeable at this time of year. In
Irish homes, there were many rituals centered around welcoming
Brigid into the home. Seen by Pagans as a
goddess, some of Brigid's rituals and legends later became attached to the Christian
Saint Brigid, who was the Abbess of
Kildare and seen by
Celtic Christians as the midwife of Christ and "Mary of the Gael". The exact date of the Imbolc festival may have varied from place to place based on local tradition and regional climate. Imbolc is celebrated by modern Pagans on the eve of
February 2, at the astronomical midpoint, or on the full moon closest to the first spring thaw. Some Neopagans also call their version of the festival "Candlemas".
Christians currently counter that there is no evidence that this
Gaelic festival was widespread, and that there is no reason to suppose that an Anglo-Celtic festival would have influenced the practice of the Roman church after the late
4th century.
Historians have sometimes argued that the Roman church introduced Candlemas celebrations in opposition to the Pagan feast of
Lupercalia; many ''Christian'' texts deny this. The ''
Catholic Encyclopædia'' is definite in its rejection of this argument: "The feast was certainly not introduced by Pope Gelasius to suppress the excesses of the Lupercalia," (referencing
J.P. Migne, ''Missale Gothicum'',
691). The ''
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica'' agrees: the association with Gelasius "has led some to suppose that it was ordained by
Pope Gelasius I in
492 as a counter-attraction to the pagan Lupercalia; but for this there is no warrant." Since the two festivals are both concerned with the ritual purification of women, not all historians are convinced that the connection is purely coincidental. Gelasius' certainly did write a treatise against Lupercalia, and this still exists; ''see
Lupercalia''. Nevertheless it is clear that Candlemas merely follows by forty days whatever day is celebrated as Christ's Nativity.
The
tradition that some modern Christians and Pagans observe, of lighting a
candle in each window (or in each room), is not the origin of the name "Candlemas", which instead refers to a blessing of candles.
Traditions and superstitions
: "Down with the rosemary, and so
: Down with the bays and mistletoe;
: Down with the holly, ivy, all,
: Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall"
::: —
Robert Herrick (
1591–
1674), "Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve"
As the poem by
Robert Herrick records, the eve of Candlemas was the day on which Christmas decorations of greenery were removed from people's homes; for traces of berries,
holly and so forth will bring death among the congregation before another year is out. Another tradition holds that anyone who hears funeral bells tolling on Candlemas will soon hear of the death of a close friend or relative; each toll of the bell represents a day that will pass before the unfortunate news is learned.
In the
British Isles, good weather at Candlemas is taken to indicate severe winter weather later. It is also the date that
bears emerge from
hibernation to inspect the weather as well as
wolves, who if they choose to return to their lairs on this day is interpreted as meaning severe weather will continue for another forty days at least. In the
United States and
Canada, Candlemas evolved into
Groundhog Day celebrated on the same date.
The earliest American reference to Groundhog Day can be found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center at
Franklin and Marshall College:
:
February 4, 1841 — from Morgantown, Berks County (Pennsylvania) storekeeper James Morris' diary …"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." [1]
In
France, Candlemas () is celebrated with
crêpes, which must be eaten only after eight p.m. If the cook can flip a crêpe while holding a coin in the other hand, the family is assured of prosperity throughout the coming year.
In
Mexico, Candlemas () is celebrated with
Tamales. Tradition indicates that on
January 5, the night before
Three Kings Day (the Epiphany), whoever gets one or more of the few plastic or metal dolls (originally coins) buried within the
Rosca de Reyes must throw a party on Candlemas. In certain regions of Mexico, this is the day in which the baby Jesus of each household is taken up from the
nativity scene and dressed up in various colorful, whimsical outfits.
Sailors are often reluctant to set sail on Candlemas Day, believing that any voyage begun then will end in disaster — given the frequency of severe storms in February, this is not entirely without sense.
Liturgical celebration
The feast is also known as Candlemas or the
Purification of the Virgin, as it also celebrates Mary's return to ritual purity after giving birth, in accordance with the prescriptions of
Mosaic law. Since the
Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has put more emphasis on the Prophecy of
Simeon and discouraged the use of these alternative names.
Pope John Paul II connected the feast day with the renewal of religious
vows.
See also
★
Candlemas
★
Groundhog Day
★
Liturgical year
★
Rosary
★
Mardi Gras in Mobile - American festival with parade on ''Candlemas''.
★
Simeon the Righteous
★
Anna
References
Notes
1. If Easter falls early enough, February 2 can fall during the pre-Lenten season (causing omission of "Alleluia" in the Roman liturgy).
2. See :2–8).
Further reading
★ ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' "Candlemas", F. G. Holweck
★ ''Encyclopedia Britannica''
★
Sketch of Egeria's record of her pilgrimage, with quoted passages
★
Egeria's description of the liturgical year at Jerusalem
★ ''Food and Feast in Medieval England'', P. W. Hammond, ISBN 0-7509-0992-7
★
External links
★
Text of Luke 2 in the New Revised Standard Version
★ Traditions:
Celebrating Candlemas
★
Poems by Robert Herrick including "Upon Candlemas Eve"
★ Web-Holidays.com:
Candlemas Day
★ New Advent:
Candlemas
★
Imbolc, Candlemas Day and Groundhog Day
★
★
Cantica Nova Origins of Candlemas
★
liturgy for candlemas
★
history of the feast of the Purification/Candlemas
★
Liturgical Resources
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