Category Archives: Candlemas

Feb 01 2015
Candlemas, Christmas, Imbolc

Approach to Spring

St_Brigids_Cross

Come February, we are thoroughly along in our journey away from winter, toward spring. The thermometer may not be giving a clear indication of it, but we are now about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Sunlight has been increasing each day here in the Northern Hemisphere since the 21st of December. In another six weeks, night and day will once again be nearly balanced.

These halfway points are cross-quarter days, and this one, in the old Celtic calendar, is Imbolc, derived from the word Oimelc, Gaelic for ewe’s milk, for as the milk begins to flow for newborn lambs at this time of year, so soon will frozen streams and rivers begin to melt and flow, and so soon will green––and warmth––return. We are on the approach to spring.

The Church gave the day to St. Brigid, or Brigit… a bridge from winter to spring. Brigid is more proper, as is the more Celtic pronunciation of her name (brigg-id or bree-id) and she is sacred to Ireland, second there only to St. Patrick in stature. It is traditional on this day to fashion a St. Brigid’s Cross out of rushes or reeds, as well as to leave an oat cake and butter on a windowsill in your home. This, to encourage Brigid to visit your home and bless all who live there. She bridges us also to Candlemas, which comes tomorrow, and tonight, being Candlemas Eve, marks the true and official end of the Christmas season. If there still remain vestiges of yuletide greenery in your home, this is the night to remove it. And so tonight return to nature what is hers––the rosemary, bays, mistletoe, holly, ivy, all––if for no other reason than that soon, the earth itself will be erupting in green.

 

Image: St. Brigid’s Cross by Liscannorman [Creative Commons], via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Tagged , ,
Feb 03 2014
3 Comments
Candlemas, St. Blaise's Day

St. Blaise’s Day

StBlaise

For ailments of the throat, pray to St. Blaise… and on his feast day, the Third of February, it is not uncommon to go to church and have the priest bless your throat by holding two candles, crossed into an X shape, with your throat in the crook of the candles, as he says a blessing over your head. It’s one of those mystical ceremonies that seems almost over the top even to us Catholics.

St. Blaise became the patron saint of folks with throat maladies by association: He is famed for having healed a young boy who had a fishbone stuck in his throat. (I remember having a fishbone stuck in my throat once when I was a boy, too. These things stick with you. While it was stuck there, it was all I could think about. Had I known enough at the time, I would have prayed to St. Blaise to get that bone dislodged.) St. Blaise was a fourth century bishop in Armenia, but he had to go into hiding in a cave for his faith. It was there that wild animals would gather with him and join him in food and conversation… and so St. Blaise is also associated with animals and their protection.

He is fondly remembered in my family, for St. Blaise was the name of the church my grandparents attended, up the hill from their home in Brooklyn. My Aunt Anne and Uncle Joe were married there, and so were my own parents. Folks with high aspirations went to St. Frances’s, the big cathedral, but the simpler folks went to St. Blaise. It was a small church that served a small community made up mostly of Italian immigrants and their families.

The candles in the St. Blaise throat blessing perhaps are a remnant of Candlemas, which comes the day before his feast day. In England and Scotland, it was once customary to light bonfires on the eve of St. Blaise, which would be the night of Candlemas, and perhaps there is some connection to be made between Blaise and blaze. It is a day also important to wool carders ( a matter having to do with St. Blaise’s martyrdom), as well as to spinners and dyers.

Pictured above: My newly married mom and dad, posing for photos with their wedding party, on the front steps of St. Blaise Church in Brooklyn.

 

 

Feb 02 2014
1 Comment
Candlemas

All the Candles in the World

Candlemas

Today brings Candlemas. It is the day that candles are blessed in the Church, with great processions of candles lit and born aloft, a light for the world. The day marks the purification of Mary at the temple, which is an old Jewish tradition following the birth of a child. Mary is renewed, just as the year is renewed, just as in the pagan tradition the old crone of winter is renewed and transformed into the young virgin of spring… for with Candlemas we shift our sights away from winter and ahead to spring. It was at that same temple that Mary met the elder Simeon, who proclaimed that Jesus would be the light of the world… and this is the basis for the blessing of candles on this day.

This day is perhaps the most well known weather marker of the year: Groundhog Day. Here in the US, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow as he crawls up out of his burrow, it’ll mean 40 days more of winter; if he sees no shadow, then it will be an early spring. This weather lore comes out of much older weather marking traditions related to the Second of February, but which all seem to offer the same wisdom––that a bright and sunny Candlemas Day means a longer winter, while a dark and cloudy one means welcome warmth will soon be on its way:

If the sun shines bright on Candlemas Day,
The half of the winter’s not yet away.

If we listen to the old groundhog, it looks like six more weeks of winter this year, for the news is that Punxsutawney Phil awoke and saw his shadow this morning upon leaving his burrow. Here in South Florida, it is our first year without Lantana Lou. Lantana is the next town south of where I live, and each year for the past ten years, we would watch for Lantana Lou to emerge out of the ocean to make his weather prediction. Lantana Lou is retired Lantana Town Council member Lou Cantor, and this year, Lou decided to retire from his annual Candlemas weather marker career, too. It was always the same prediction, anyway: six more weeks of gorgeous Florida weather.

On Candlemas, it is traditional to light every lamp in the house, even for just a few moments, at sunset. In Mexico, tradition today calls for tamales and hot chocolate. In Europe, it’s a big day for crepes. No matter what’s on your table this evening, one thing is for certain: the meal would be best accompanied by candlelight.

 

Tagged
← Older posts
Newer posts →