Does anyone remember Candlemas?
– About the fourth century, Christians began commemorating the day that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple. By Jewish law, that would have been the fortieth day after His birth. (Luke 2:21-38). You may remember that a prophet named Simeon predicted that Jesus would bring “a light of revelation to the Gentiles.” So the feast day became associated with candles. Each community’s elder or priest would pray a blessing over candles, then pass them out for people to take into their homes. Eventually the celebration came to be called Candlemas. At first, many Christians celebrated the feast on February 14 (40 days after January 6). When the Roman church fixed its Christmas celebration on December 25, they fixed Candlemas, by default, at February 2. During the middle ages and renaissance, the feast took on other meanings. In parts of England, Candlemas became the day to take down your Christmas greenery and start spring cleaning. And, as the opening poem shows, many Europeans adopted a
