Candlemas Day France

Candlemas Day France

November, December, January, February… in France, the cold and grey iciness settles for a long term whilst the climate, gloomy and tough, forces the plant life right into a properly earned pause. Bushes are leafless, their trunks of a dark-grey color, and relying at the sky, snow and ice cowl whole regions, disrupting human interest. Once the cheerful Christmas and New yr’s celebrations have long past, the long months of January and February aren't a season one especially anticipates in Europe (except for shopaholics attracted to the large income!). Therefore, considering ancient times, French (and ecu) traditions have marked the beginning of February with light-hearted celebrations, followed by using scrumptious treats.

In France, the month of February starts offevolved with the celebration of Candlemas – l.  A. Chandeleur – which occurs on the second, that's 40 days after Christmas. This non secular celebration remembers the Presentation of Jesus to the Temple, a decisive occasion that befell in the course of the early years of Jesus and is described in the Bible (Gospel of Luke chapter 2 verses 22-40).

The origins of the Chandeleur date again to a pagan ceremonial dinner: consistent with nearby customs, candles had to be lit at nighttime as a image of purification. Chandeleur comes from the latin “candelarum” as does the English word ‘candle’.

The Church tailored the subculture into the blessing of the candles, which were to repel Evil, as a consequence reminding all that Christ is the light of the arena. Christians would then come returned to their houses with the blessed candles so one can protect them.

It become additionally at that point of the yr that the winter seed-time began. The surplus flour became then used without too much danger of scarcity and crêpes had been made as a image of prosperity for the approaching yr.

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What is Candlemass

What is Candlemass

Of the diverse Christian holy days that take vicinity for the duration of the yr, Candlemass (or Candelaria), on February 2d, can be one of the least famous ceremonies inside the Christian global. Evangelical Protestants do now not matter it as a primary observance, even as Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Greek Orthodox church buildings preserve it in excessive esteem. Regardless of how your church celebrates or does no longer have a good time Candlemass, Sharefaith is prepared with a media selection best for the event. Visit our website or discover greater.

History of Candlemass
The party of Candlemass originated within the overdue fifth century as a tribute to the light of God's glory that became manifested in Christ Jesus. The earliest regarded observance in the Church became inside the year ad 496, at some stage in the time of Pope Gelasius. In advert 542 the Emperor Justinian ordained that the eastern Church have fun the festival, which he known as Hypapante, or "assembly". The name changed into derived from the Gospel of Luke 2:22-forty, in which Simeon the priest and Anna the prophetess met the toddler Jesus within the temple on the time of his consecration. Simeon's prophecy declared Jesus to be the Lord's salvation and "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." This passage continues to be the point of interest of the birthday party.

At some point of Candelaria, candles are blessed, lit, and borne in a procession in party to Jesus being the mild of the world. In ad 638, Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, proclaimed the importance of the party in his sermon to the church, pointing out: "Our bright shining candles are a signal of divine beauty of the one who involves expel the darkish shadows of evil and to make the complete universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls must be while we go to meet Christ." The candles are commonly taken into consideration to represent the internal mild of Christ, which he added to share with the sector.

The timing for Candlemass is likewise in accordance with the Mosaic regulation, which required that a woman must purify herself for forty days after giving beginning, and, on the quit of her purification, should gift herself to the priest on the temple and offer a sacrifice (Leviticus 12:6-7). The Roman Catholic church buildings seem to devote more recognition to this factor of Candlemass, as evidenced by means of their ritual of the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin, at the same time as the Anglican churches rejoice the better halves' ceremonial dinner, that is a time while girls accumulate with feasting and socializing.

Candelaria on February 2d
The date of February 2nd locations the Candelaria celebration 40 days after Christmas and continues the spiritual cycle that leads up to Easter Sunday. Moreover, it's also the mid-point between the iciness Solstice and the Spring Equinox, which is the basis for various ancient eu celebrations that celebrate the yearly beginnings of the rural season.

Additionally of word regarding Candlemass is its connection to Groundhog Day, which takes place on the identical date. This culture additionally reveals its starting place in european folklore, as a prediction for the approaching spring.

For the Church, however, Candelaria stays a day of desire and light. It's far a time to honor the Lord as the mild of the arena and to remind us that we too have that mild within us.

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Christmas Decorations, Twelfth Night and Candlemas

Are you too busy to take your Christmas decorations down? Are humans telling you it is unlucky to have your decorations up after twelfth night?

Well, i have the suitable solution for you. You could go away them up till Candlemas Eve (1st February) and inform all of us which you're following an age-old subculture.

As i have cited earlier than, it became traditional in Medieval and Tudor times for homes to be embellished with greenery, inclusive of laurel, holly, ivy and rosemary, at Christmas time however there has been no rush to take it down on 12th night time, rather it became left adorning the house till Candlemas Eve. Seventeenth century poet Robert Herrick wrote in his poem "rite Upon Candlemas Eve":

"Down with the rosemary, and so

Down with the bays and misletoe ;

Down with the holly, ivy, all,

Wherewith ye get dressed'd the Christmas hall :

That so the superstitious discover

nobody least branch there left behind :

For look, what number of leaves there be

left out, there (maids, trust to me)

so many goblins you shall see."

Of course, you currently need to take into account to take them down on 1st February otherwise you may have the ones goblins to deal with!

Word: Candlemas, which is well known on 2nd February, is likewise known as the dinner party of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. It commemorates the day on which the Virgin Mary would have been purified after childbirth and might have presented her son on the temple in Jerusalem. It was also the day on which Church candles were blessed.

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Candlemas Day Religious festival

Candlemas Day Religious festival

Opportunity titles: Hypapante; Presentation of Christ within the Temple; Presentation of the Lord
Candlemas, also referred to as Presentation Of The Lord, or Presentation Of Christ inside the Temple, orHypapante,  inside the Christian church, competition on February 2, commemorating the occasion whilst the Virgin Mary, in obedience to Jewish law, went to the Temple in Jerusalem both to be purified 40 days after the delivery of her son and to provide Jesus to God as her firstborn (Luke 2:22–38). The pageant changed into formerly known within the Roman Catholic church as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is now referred to as the Presentation of the Lord. Inside the Anglican church it's far known as the Presentation of Christ inside the Temple. In the Greek church it's far known as Hypapante (meeting), in reference to Jesus’ assembly in the Temple with the aged Simeon.

The earliest reference to the pageant is from Jerusalem, in which inside the overdue 4th century the Western pilgrim Etheria attended its celebration on February 14, 40 days after Epiphany (then celebrated as Christ’s birthday), and wrote of it inside the Peregrinatio Etheriae. It soon unfold to other jap cities, and in 542 Justinian I decreed that its date have to be moved lower back to February 2 (forty days after Christmas). By the middle of the 5th century the custom of gazing the pageant with lighted candles were introduced, and the name Candlemas evolved from this custom. Inside the Western church, Pope Sergius I (687–701) instituted the pageant in Rome. Inside the East it's far broadly speaking a competition of Christ; within the West it turned into mainly a party of the Virgin Mary till the calendar reform of 1969.

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Candlemas Day 2016 Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Candlemas Day 2016 Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

These days the Church celebrates the ceremonial dinner of the Presentation of the Lord which happens 40 days after the birth of Jesus and is likewise known as Candlemas day, since the blessing and procession of candles is blanketed in state-of-the-art liturgy.

According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the exquisite form of the Roman ceremony, these days is known as the "Purification of Mary." that is known as a "Christmas ceremonial dinner" because it points returned to the Solemnity of Christmas. Many Catholics exercise the culture of preserving out the Nativity creche or other Christmas decorations till this feast.

The Readings

ultra-modern first studying offers us an essential insight to apprehend profoundly the thriller of the Lord’s Presentation in the Temple by means of Mary and Joseph, according with the canons of Mosaic law. The text, taken from the Prophet Malachi says, ‘i'm sending my messenger to put together the manner earlier than me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord who you are trying to find’ (Mal three:1). From all the Gospels, we recognize that it's miles the Precursor, St John the Baptist who was born 6 months earlier than Jesus, that God sent to put together His manner. Putting those evangelical information collectively, we will recognise the words of the Prophet Malachi. Our lord god promised that He could send a Precursor to put together His manner. Considering the fact that there may be handiest 6 months between the delivery of St John the Baptist and Jesus it's miles clear that the prophecy supposed that all at once after the Precursor, the Lord Himself will come. So, soon after the Baptist’s start, God entered His temple. Jesus’ presentation indicates God’s front to His temple. God made man entered His temple, supplying Himself to those who had been truly attempting to find Him.

These days’s Gospel introduces us to different human beings and occasions that in themselves offer numerous lessons and issues for in addition reflection. Initially, Mary and Joseph admire the Mosaic law by means of presenting the sacrifice prescribed for the poor: a couple of turtledoves or  young pigeons.

Simeon and Anna were  venerable elderly people committed to prayer and fasting and so their strong religious spirit rendered them able to recognize the Messiah. In this sense we can see within the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple an extension of the ‘seasoned Orantibus Day’ (For people who pray) that is widely known on the dinner party of the Presentation of Mary (21 November). In this day, the Church demonstrates its gratitude to all the ones inside the network that commit themselves in a privileged manner to prayer, to those who have a selected religious vocation to the contemplative life. Within the determine of the venerable Simeon, Jesus’ presentation inside the temple, additionally reminds us that prayer and contemplation aren't only a waste of time or an impediment to charity. On the contrary, time could not be higher spent than in prayer as actual Christian charity is a consequence of a strong interior existence. Handiest people who pray and provide penance, like Simeon and Anna, are open to the breath of the Spirit. They recognise the way to apprehend the Lord within the occasions wherein He manifests Himself due to the fact they possess an sufficient indoors imaginative and prescient, and that they have found out how to love with the coronary heart of the one whose very name is Charity.

At the stop of the Gospel Simeon’s prophecy of Mary’s sufferings is emphasised. Pope John Paul II taught that, ‘Simeon's words appear to be a second Annunciation to Mary, for they tell her of the actual historical scenario in which the Son is to accomplish his assignment, namely, in false impression and sorrow.’ (Redemptoris Mater, n16) The archangel’s declaration become a fount of tremendous joy as it pertained to Jesus’ messianic royalty and the supernatural man or woman of His virginal conception. The declaration of the aged in the temple alternatively observed the Lord’s paintings of redemption that He could whole associating Himself thru struggling to His mom. Consequently, there is a strong Marian size to this banquet and so in the Liturgical Calendar of the fantastic shape it is known as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This refers to the opposite aspect of the presentation that consists of the ritual purification of Jewish women when they had given delivery. In Mary’s case this purification became not necessary, but it suggests the renewal of her general offering of herself to God for the accomplishment of His Divine Plan.

Simeon’s prophecy additionally proclaims that Christ might be ‘a sign of contradiction’. St Cyril of Alexandria, in certainly one of his homilies, interpreted the phrases ‘sign of contradiction’ like a noble pass, as St Paul wrote to the Corinthians ‘a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles’ (1 Cor 1:23) […] it is a sign of contradiction inside the experience that folks that free seem as foolish whilst in folks that understand its electricity [the cross] exhibits salvation and life’ (c.F PG 77, 1044-1049).

Presentation of the Lord

The dinner party became first located in the jap Church as "The come across." within the sixth century, it began to be located within the West: in Rome with a extra penitential character and in Gaul (France) with solemn blessings and processions of candles, popularly known as "Candlemas." The Presentation of the Lord concludes the celebration of the Nativity and with the services of the Virgin mom and the prophecy of Simeon, the events now point towards Easter.

"In obedience to the old regulation, the Lord Jesus, the primary-born, become supplied inside the Temple by way of his Blessed mom and his foster father. That is every other 'epiphany' celebration insofar because the Christ child is found out because the Messiah thru the canticle and phrases of Simeon and the testimony of Anna the prophetess. Christ is the light of the international locations, for this reason the blessing and procession of candles on this day. In the middle a while this dinner party of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or 'Candlemas,' changed into of extremely good significance.

"The particular liturgy of this Candlemas feast, the blessing of candles, is not as widely celebrated because it need to be, besides of direction on every occasion February 2 falls on a Sunday and therefore takes priority. There are two approaches of celebrating the ceremony, both the Procession, which begins at a 'gathering region' outside the church, or the Solemn entrance, celebrated within the church."

— From Ceremonies of the Liturgical yr

until 1969, the ancient ceremonial dinner of the Presentation of Our Lord, that is of Oriental beginning, become recognized in the West as the ceremonial dinner of the Purification of Our woman, and closed the Christmas Cycle, 40 days after the Lord's start. This ceremonial dinner has for long been associated with many famous devotional sporting events. The trustworthy:

gladly participate in the processions commemorating the Lord's access into the Temple in Jerusalem and His encounter with God, whose residence He had come to for the primary time, and then with Simeon and Anna. Such processions, which in the West had taken the place of licentious pagan activities, continually had a penitential person, and had been later diagnosed with the blessing of candles which had been carried in procession in honor of Christ, 'the light to enlighten the Gentiles' (Lk 2, 32);

are sensitive to the movements of the Blessed Virgin in supplying her Son inside the Temple, and to her submission to the regulation of Moses (Lk 12, 1-8) inside the ceremony of purification; famous piety sees in the rite of purification the humility of Our woman and subsequently, 2 February has lengthy been appeared as a banquet for the ones in humble carrier.

Famous piety is touchy to the providential and mysterious occasion that is the idea and start of recent lifestyles. Christian mothers can without difficulty pick out with the maternity of Our girl, the maximum pure mom of the top of the paranormal frame — notwithstanding the exceptional differences within the Virgin's particular idea and beginning.

Those too are moms in God's plan and are approximately to present delivery to future members of the Church. From this instinct and a positive mimesis of the purification of Our girl, the ceremony of purification after delivery was advanced, some of whose factors replicate negatively on beginning.

The revised Rituale Romanum provides for the blessing of women each earlier than and after birth, this latter most effective in instances wherein the mother couldn't participate on the baptism of her infant.

It's far a notably desirable issue for moms and married couples to invite for those blessings which must receive in accord with the Church's prayer: in a communion of faith and charity in prayer so that being pregnant can be introduced to time period without problem (blessing earlier than birth), and to provide thanks to God for the gift of a child (blessing after delivery).

In a few neighborhood church buildings, sure factors taken from the Gospel account of the Presentation of the Lord (Lk 2, 22-forty), which includes the obedience of Joseph and Mary to the law of the Lord, the poverty of the holy spouses, the virginity of Our female, mark out 2 February as a unique banquet for the ones on the service of the brethren in the numerous types of consecrated lifestyles.

The dinner party of 2 February nevertheless retains a famous man or woman. It's miles vital, but, that such must replicate the authentic Christian importance of the dinner party. It would no longer be right for popular piety in its party of this banquet to overlook its Christological importance and concentrate completely on its Marian components. The fact that this banquet must be 'considered [...] a joint memorial of Son and mom' would no longer assist such an inversion. The candles kept with the aid of the trustworthy of their homes need to be seen as a sign of Christ 'the mild of the sector' and an expression of religion.

— Excerpted from directory on popular Piety and the Liturgy

activities:

Ask your parish priest to bless the candles that you will be using on your private home altar this yr.

Have a own family Candlemas procession, determined in the prayer hyperlinks.

Examine Luke 2:22-35, the account of the presentation which includes the Canticle of Simeon.

Meditate at the consistent fiat of Our lady of Sorrows, who embraced the desire of God while Simeon predicted that a sword might pierce her heart.

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Celebrating Candlemas Day

Celebrating Candlemas Day

February 2 is one of the extraordinary move-quarter days which make up the wheel of the 12 months. It falls midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and in lots of traditions is considered the start of spring.
Awakening the ground

In Western Europe, this become the time for preparing the fields for the first planting. Even in Seattle, you can start turning over and enriching the soil in anticipation of the primary sowing in March. Pamela Berger has written a e-book, The Goodess Obscured: Transformation of the Grain Protectress from Goddess to Saint, approximately the rituals celebrated at the moment of year, whilst the ground is first awoke and the seed placed within the stomach of the earth. This is a great second in a community which depends in the world for sustenance. The fields had been purified and offerings have been made to the goddess.

This medieval Anglo-Saxon plowing allure, recorded by way of Berger, was stated through the farmer while reducing the primary furrow.

Whole be thou Earth
mom of fellows.
Within the lap of God,
Be thous as-growing.
Be packed with fodder
For fare-need of guys.

The farmer then took a loaf of bread, kneaded it with milk and holy water and laid it beneath the primary furrow, announcing:

Acre complete fed,
bring about fodder for men!
Blossoming brightly,
Blessed end up;
And the God who wrought the ground,
provide us the items of growing,
That the corn, all the corn,
may additionally come unto our need.

The guarantees of the return of the mild and the renewal of lifestyles which had been made on the wintry weather solstice at the moment are becoming take place. It's the dawn of the year. It's the time while a girl who's pregnant starts showing. It's time to creep out of the hibernation of winter, carefully, like the ground Hog who supposedly emerges on this day to test his shadow. It's the time of germination. This is a traditional time for brand spanking new beginnings. Covens of witches normally initiate new members presently.

St. Brigid, the Grain Goddess
In ireland, this holy day is known as Imbolc and begins at sunset on February 1 continuing thru sundown February second. There are numerous one of a kind derivations offered for the call Imbolc: from Ol-melc (ewe's milk) because the ewes are lactating right now, from Im-bolg (across the stomach) in honor of the swelling belly of the earth goddess, and from folcaim (I wash) due to the rites of purification which passed off presently. All of those explanations capture the themes of this competition.

February 1st is the banquet day of St. Brigid, who started out her existence as a pagan goddess and ended up a Christian saint. She become a hearth and fertility goddess. In her temple at Kildare, vestal virgins tended an everlasting fire. On her dinner party day, her statue become washed in the sea (purification) and then carried in a cart via the fields surrounded by using candles.

The legends about the goddess, Brigid, step by step have become associated with (the rather spurious) Saint Brigid who founded the primary convent in eire (where else?) at Kildare.

To rejoice St. Brigid's day, humans positioned out a loaf of bread on the windowsill for the Saint and an ear of corn for her white cow, services for the grain goddess just like the loaf buried in the first furrow. A small quantity of unique seeds are combined with the ones to be sown. Wheat stalks are woven into X-formed crosses to serve as charms to shield home from fireplace and lightning.

Inside the HIghlands, ladies get dressed the corn doll or closing sheaf (from Lammas or the autumn equinox) in a bridal gown and put her in a basket, that's referred to as the Bride's mattress. A wand, candle or different phallic item is laid across her and Bride is invited to return, for her bed is prepared.

Purification

The Catholic Church, because it become wont to do, discovered an opportunity to superimpose a Christian holiday on this pagan pageant. Jewish ladies went via a purification ceremony forty days after the birth of a male baby (eighty days after the delivery of a woman toddler). So within the 6th century (consistent with J.C. Cooper within the Aquarian Dictionary of gala's,February 2 (which falls 39 days after Christmas) turned into declared the dinner party of the Purification of Mary. The topic of purification remained a link among the two holy days.

Like many outstanding infants, Jesus is diagnosed as a future hero from the time of his infancy. This sort of recognitions takes place in Luke 2:21 whilst he's being offered in the temple (at the time of Mary's purification ) and a holy guy, Simeon, acknowledges him as the Christ, calling him “a light for revelation.”

this is the ostensible reason given for the custom of bringing candles to church to be blessed by the priest on February second. They're then take home in which they serve as talismans and protections from all forms of screw ups. This practice is the starting place for the name Candle-mass. In Hungary, in keeping with Dorothy Spicer within the e-book of festivals, February 2nd is known as Blessing of the Candle of the satisfied woman (Gyertyazsenteio Boidog Asszony). In Poland, it is known as mom of God Who Saves Us From Thunder (Swieto Matki Boskiej Gromnicznej).

Absolutely, this competition has always been related to fire. In ancient Armenia (writes Spicer), this became the date of the pagan spring festival in honor of Mihr, the God of hearth. In the beginning, fires have been built in his honor in open places and a lantern turned into lit which burned inside the temple at some point of the year. Whilst Armenia have become Christian, the fires had been built in church courtyards as a substitute. Humans danced about the flames, jumped over them and carried home embers to kindle their very own fires from the sacred flames.

Given that Lent can from time to time start as early as February 4th, a few Candlemas customs have become related to Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and the beginning of Lent, that's a time of purification.


Saint Brigid
Celebrating Candlemas
Candles and xmas vegetables

the primary element of your redecorating scheme for Candlemas is reasonably apparent: candles. You could acquire all of the candles in your home in one room and light them from one vital candle. Or place a candle in each window (but watch them cautiously).

Candlemas is one of the traditional times for taking down Christmas decorations (twelfth night, on January 6th, is the opposite). In case you are very cautious (due to the fact they're tinder dry), you may burn them. Or, better yet, go back them to the earth mother by using the use of them for compost or mulch.

Certain ingredients are traditional for Candlemas, including crepes, pancakes and cakes, all grain-based totally foods. Pancakes and crepes are taken into consideration symbols of the solar due to their round shape and golden coloration.

When you have a fire, smooth out your hearth after which mild a brand new hearth. Take a seat around the fireplace and replicate in your hopes for the coming 12 months. What do you hope to accomplish? What are you obsessed on? What seeds do you want to plant? Talk these thoughts with others or write them down in a magazine however lead them to concrete in some way in order that on Lammas (August 2nd, the competition of the primary harvest), you can look lower back to peer what development you’ve made.

Brigid is the goddess of innovative suggestion as well as reproductive fertility. This is a good time for sharing creative paintings, or, if you don't consider yourself as mainly innovative, an concept that labored or a plan that materialized. Thank the Goddess for her concept, perhaps by dedicating a future work to her.

Making Pledges and Commitments

in view that Candlemas is a time of latest beginnings, this is a great day to ritually have fun all matters new. Plan a rite to name a brand new child, officially welcome a new person right into a own family or plight your troth to the one you love. Make a dedication to a purpose (like a new Years decision): this will be an in particular powerful aspect to do in a group.

In San Francisco, the Reclaiming Collective sponsors a huge public ritual called Brigid, which specializes in political commitment. After acknowledging despair over the occasions of the beyond 12 months, the contributors mirror at the source of their personal power and then make a pledge in the front of the network approximately the work they intend to do throughout the coming year. For the duration of this ritual, the flames in a cauldron constitute Brigid's Sacred Flame, the fireplace of idea and ardour, whilst a punch bowl filled with waters collected from all around the international represents Brigid's Holy nicely, the source of healing and purification.

If you plan your personal rite, use those two effective symbols: hearth and water. For instance, wash your hands and bathe your face in salt water, that's especially properly for purification. Mild a candle as you're making your pledge. Contain the 0.33 image of the vacation — seeds — via planting a seed or bulb in a pot to symbolize your dedication, or via blessing a bowl or packet of seeds that you will plant later.

Purification and Renewal

have you ever given some thing up for Lent? If not, you might consider it. You don’t must be Catholic to advantage non secular advantages from the voluntary give up of some thing you cherish. You could surrender something frivolous or some thing critical, however it need to be some thing you will notice. Folk understanding says it takes six weeks (or approximately the 40 days of Lent) to establish a brand new addiction, so that you might also end up with a lifestyle change.

The kids in our community have eagerly embraced the concept of giving up some thing for Lent. We recognise one little lady who gave up tv for Lent and another who gave up catsup, her favored meals. Inside the final  years, i have given up alcohol and espresso for Lent. Forty days is sufficient time to observe the distinction in the manner you feel without a favorite substance or distraction.

Given that Candlemas is often considered the start of spring, you could perform another ritual act of purification: spring cleansing. This would be an awesome time to do a radical house cleansing, sweeping the flooring with salt water, banishing the gloom of iciness and developing a sparkling, brilliant new setting for spring.

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Candlemas Day 2016

Candlemas Day 2016

Candlemas DAY is celebrated on the 2nd day of February of every yr. The day is widely known as a day of renewal, wish, and purification.
According to an old Jewish custom, a female who offers delivery to a baby may be unclean and homebound for a sure variety of days after the delivery. The times for this tradition range for the start of a boy and a start of a female. If a boy infant is born, the girl is unclean for seven days after which she remains at home for a further thirty-3 days for a total of 40 days. If a woman infant is born, the girl is unclean for 14 days after which she stays at domestic for a further sixty-six days for a complete of 80 days. At some stage in those time durations, the female touches not anything holy.

February 2nd is precisely 40 days after the delivery of Jesus Christ and it is on this day that mother Mary along with Joseph delivered forth their new child son, Jesus, to the Temple. Mom Mary became cleansed on this day. Jesus turned into supplied to the Lord inside the Temple in this day. In the course of this time, an elderly holy man named Simeon was staying in Jerusalem. Simeon turned into told by means of the Holy Spirit that his dying might not come till he noticed the Messiah. When Simeon held the infant Jesus, he knew that Jesus had come for the salvation of all. Simeon stated that Jesus changed into "A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people of Israel.

The light turned into the foundation for the birthday party with candles. It become and still stays to these days a Christian birthday party of the purification of mother Mary and the first appearance of Jesus inside the Temple. Throughout the early years, human beings might region their candles outside the church if you want to be blessed. They might then bring them in a procession to church with a view to imitate the appearance of Jesus inside the Temple.

Other Names
In the united states, February 2d is called Groundhog Day. Different names for February 2d include "The Presentation of the Lord inside the Temple" and "Purification of the Blessed Virgin".

Symbolism
Candles are an crucial image used on Candlemas Day. Additionally, the snowdrop flower seems in a protracted ago rhyme which states "The Snowdrop, in purest white array, First rears her head on Candlemas day."

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Imbolc (Candlemas) Sabbat

Imbolc (Candlemas) Sabbat

Mbolc is one of the 4 foremost festivals of the Irish calendar, normally celebrated by the Gaels, different Celtic cultures and modern Pagans at the beginning of February. Initially devoted to the goddess Brigid, it was subverted by means of Christianity as St Brigid's Day.

Introduction to Imbolc

The festival of Imbolc (additionally Imbolg), now frequently known as St Bride's Day or Candlemas after the forcible Christianization of Europe, falls today at the beginning of February. But the Gaelic human beings did no longer mark February as we do. Known as in Gaelic faoilleach, or faoillteach, as we study in MacBain (1911), the month extended from the center of modern-day January to the center of our February. The word derives from the Irish faoillidh or faoilleach, meaning holidays or carnival, which itself means 'wolf-month' from faol, 'wolf'. In step with McBain, February in Irish is mí na Féile Bríghde, or Lá Fhéile Bríde (Lá Feabhra), reported regulation ay-leh bree-djeh (law feow-rah). We take our name for this month from the Roman purification ritual of Februa, derived from the Latin februum, 'purification', which become held on the 15th of February by way of the old Roman calendar.

The call Imbolc comes from the antique Irish i mbolg, 'in the stomach', seemingly in reference to both pregnant ewes or milking. The oldest etymology, that of the ninth century Cormac's word list, derives imbolc (additionally oimelc) from 'the time the sheep's milk comes'. While frequently criticised as a fanciful derivation by using scholars, this has come to dominate interpretations of this competition. Within Gaelic subculture the competition itself is truly a veneration of the pre-Christian goddess Bride or Brigid and maximum of the recorded customs concentrated round this deity. Therefore, maximum references to this pageant historically used the name of Bride or Brigid.

The competition's reputation in Wicca arose from the work of Gerald Gardner. But, Gardner had no get right of entry to to authentic Pagan witchcraft sources (no matter his claims) and based the ritual for what he referred to as 'February Eve' on the overall schema he had developed for everyday coven meetings. Evolved someday among 1949 and 1953 this naked outline has seeing that been fleshed out by different Wiccan writers, often drawing on the extra availability of scholarship at the customs and traditions of the Gaelic and Celtic peoples.

Excerpts on the records of Imbolc/Candlemas
Christianization
The conception of the Virgin Mary is represented on the same day (the second of February) as that of the amazing idea of Juno with the aid of the historic Romans. This, says the writer of the Perennial Calendar, is a tremendous accident. [...] it is also a top notch twist of fate that the Romans need to have had their Prosipernalia, or ceremonial dinner of Candles or Candlemass in February [...] therefore we see that the Roman Catholics were in the dependancy of celebrating Christian gala's upon days which have been held sacred via the heathens.
W. Winwoode examine, The Veil of Isis; or, The Mysteries of the Druids, 1861, five.I.

On the second one day of February, the Romans perambulated their metropolis with torches and candles burning in honour of Februa; and the Greeks at this identical period held their dinner party of lighting fixtures in honour of Ceres. Pope innocent explains the foundation of this banquet of Candlemass. He states that "The heathens committed this month to the infernal gods. At its beginning Pluto stole away Proserpine, and her mom Ceres looked for her within the night time with lighted torches. In the starting of this month the idolaters walked about the town with lighted candles, and as some of the holy fathers couldn't extirpate such a custom, they ordained that Christians need to convey about candles in honour of the Virgin Mary." This technique of keeping the banquet of Candlemass does now not now be successful on this u . S .; thus far as the laity are worried, the festival may be stated to have died out, but consistent with Dr. Brewer, the pageant is kept via the Roman Catholic Church as the time for consecrating the candles used within the Church carrier.
James Napier, Folklore: Superstitious ideals within the West of Scotland, 1879, p. A hundred seventy five.

Folklore
St Bride's Day
inside the Highlands of Scotland the revival of vegetation in spring was once graphically represented on St. Bride’s Day, the first of February. Therefore in the Hebrides “the mistress and servants of each own family take a sheaf of oats, and get dressed it up in women’s clothing, put it in a big basket and lay a timber club by way of it, and this they name Briid’s bed; and then the mistress and servants cry three instances, ‘Briid is come, Briid is welcome.’ This they do simply before going to mattress, and when they rise in the morning they appearance a number of the ashes, waiting for to peer the influence of Briid’s membership there; which if they do, they reckon it a real presage of a good crop and rich 12 months, and the contrary they take as an unwell omen.” The identical custom is defined by way of some other witness as a result: “Upon the night earlier than Candlemas it's far standard to make a bed with corn and hay, over which some blankets are laid, in a part of the residence, near the door. While it is prepared, someone is going out and repeats 3 times, … ‘Bridget, Bridget, are available in; thy bed is prepared.’ One or extra candles are left burning near it all night.”
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A take a look at of Magic and religion, 1922, Chap. X.
[Read more]

The Goddess Bride
there are numerous legends and customs linked with Bride. A number of those seem inconsistent with each other, and with the man or woman of the Saint of Kildare. These seeming inconsistencies stand up from the reality that there have been numerous Brides, Christian and pre-Christian, whose personalities have emerge as pressured inside the direction of centuries--the attributes of all being now popularly ascribed to one. Bride is stated to preside over fire, over art, over all splendor, 'fo cheabhar agus fo chuan,' under the sky and under the sea. And man being the best type of perfect beauty, Bride presides at his beginning and dedicates him to the Trinity. She is the Mary and the Juno of the Gael. She is much spoken of in connection with Mary,--commonly with regards to the start of Christ. She turned into the resource-female of the mom of Nazareth inside the lowly solid, and she or he is the useful resource-woman of the moms of u.S. In their humble houses.
Alexander Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica, 1900, vol. I, p. 164.

Weather Prognostication
A windy Christmas and a calm Candlemas are signs of an amazing yr.
William Stuart, famous Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland, 1823, p. 242. N.B., Stuart says that 'Candlemas' changed into the call given to the brand new year.

Witchcraft
From the Confession of Isobel Gowdie
'we might go to numerous homes inside the night time time. We were at Candlemas ultimate in Grangehill, wherein we were given meat and drink sufficient. The devil sat at the pinnacle of the desk, and all the Coven about. That night he desired Alexander Elder in Earlseat to say the grace before meat, which he did; and is that this: "We eat this meat within the devil's call " [etc.]. After which we started out to consume. And when we had ended eating, we seemed steadfastly to the satan, and bowing ourselves to him, we stated to the devil, We thank thee, our Lord, for this.--We killed an ox, in Burgie, approximately the dawing of the day, and we delivered the ox with us domestic to Aulderne, and did consume all among us in an residence in Aulderne, and feasted on it.'
Quoted in Margaret Alice Murray, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, 1921, V.5.

Candles
before everything sight it'd appear that the candles were evidently used only to light up the middle of the night festivities, but the evidence points to the burning lights being part of the ritual. That is also suggested by way of the importance, within the cult, of the early-spring pageant of Candlemas; a competition which has lengthy been recognized as of pre-Christian origin.
The mild is specifically referred to oftentimes as being carried with the aid of the devil, normally on his head; the witches regularly lit their torches and candles at this flame, although from time to time evidently the devil lit the torch and then presented it to the witch. To call the chief of the cult Lucifer became therefore primarily appropriate, mainly on the Candlemas Sabbath.
Margaret Alice Murray, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, 1921, V.6.

The Sabbaths
The Sabbaths have been held quarterly, on the second one of February (Candlemas day), the Eve of can also, the primary of August (Lammas), and the Eve of November (All Hallow E'en). This suggests a department of the yr at may and November with two pass-sector days. One of these department belongs to a totally early calendar before the introduction of agriculture. It has no connection with sowing or reaping, it ignores the solstices and equinoxes, but it marks the opening of the 2 breeding seasons for animals, each wild and domesticated. It consequently belongs to the searching and pastoral intervals, and is in itself a demonstration of the acute primitiveness of the cult and factors to a very early beginning, reaching returned likely to the Palaeolithic technology. Cormac, archbishop of Cashel inside the 10th century, refers to those meetings whilst he says that "in his time 4 tremendous fires had been lighted up on the 4 high-quality festivals of the Druids, viz.: in February, may, August, and November". Seven centuries later, in 1661, Isobel Smyth of Forfar acknowledged that "by using these meetings she met with him (i.E., the satan) each sector at Candlemas, Rood day, Lammas, and Hallowmass". This suggests the continuity of the antique faith underlying the reliable faith of Christianity.
Margaret Alice Murray, The God of the Witches, III.

Wicca
Definition
In Wicca, Candlemas, or greater frequently Imbolc, is often defined as a festival marking the Goddess' cyclical change from Crone to Maiden. Plenty attention is given to the intended appearance of the primary signs of spring, sincerely it could in Western Europe coincide with the blossoming of early flowering plant species.
For instance, see 'word list of terms normally utilized in Wicca', internet e book of Shadows, 1992.

The February Eve Ritual
After ordinary opening, all are doubly purified [that is, with eighty strokes].
Dance spherical outdoor circle, excessive Priestess with sword girded on and drawn, Phallic wand in left hand.
Enter circle.
Magus assumes God function.
Excessive Priestess gives Fivefold Kiss, invokes: "Dread Lord of dying and Resurrection, lifestyles and the giver of lifestyles, Lord within ourselves, whose name is mystery of Mysteries, encourage our hearts. Let the light crystalize in our blood, pleasant us of resurrection, for there is no a part of us that isn't of the gods. Descend, we pray thee, upon this thy servant and Priest (call)."
All need to be purified in sacrifice earlier than him. He then purifies the high Priestess together with his very own fingers, and others if he will.
Cakes and wine.
Excellent rite if possible, in token or actual.
Games and dance as the humans will.
Dismiss [the guardians, and close down the magic circle; the people then stay to] dinner party and dance. 

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Imbloc (Candlemass, Imblog, Imbole) - February 2nd

Imbloc (Candlemass, Imblog, Imbole) - February 2nd

February 1 or 2 -- Imbolc
additionally called: Oimelc, Candlemas, St Brigit's Day.

As with all old subculture observances, this vacation is typically celebrated starting at sundown on February 1 and continuing via the day of February 2. Imbolc means in the belly of the mom due to the fact that is where seeds are beginning to stir as it's miles Spring.

Another call for this vacation is Oimelc, which means milk of ewes on the grounds that it is also the traditional lambing season inside the old international.  Herd animals have both given beginning to the primary offspring of the 12 months or their wombs are swollen and the milk of existence is flowing into their teats and udders. It is the time of Blessing of the seeds and consecration of agricultural gear. It marks the center factor of the dark 1/2 of the yr.
This vacation is particularly sacred to the Celtic hearth Goddess, Brigit, consumer of smithcraft, recovery, midwifery, and poetry.  It's far the pageant of the Maiden, for from at the moment to March twenty first, it's miles her season to prepare for increase and renewal.   The Maiden is commemorated, as the Bride, in this Sabbat. Straw Brideo'gas (corn dollies) are made out of oat or wheat straw and located in baskets with white flower bedding. Younger ladies then bring the Brideo'gas door to door, and items are bestowed upon the photograph from every household. Afterwards on the traditional feast, the older ladies make unique acorn wands for the dollies to hold, and in the morning the ashes inside the hearth are tested to peer if the magic wands left marks as an amazing omen. Brighid's Crosses are common from wheat stalks and exchanged as symbols of protection and prosperity inside the coming yr. Home fireplace fires are put out and re-lit, and a besom is location through the front door to represent sweeping out the vintage and inviting the brand new. Candles are lit and placed in each room of the residence to honor the re-beginning of the solar.

A Covens high Priestess might also wear a crown of lighting fixtures (candles) to symbolize the go back of the Goddess to her Maiden factor, simply as the sun God has reached puberty.  Brighid's snake emerges from the womb of the Earth mother to test the climate, (the origin of floor Hog Day), and in many places the primary Crocus vegetation commenced to spring forth from the frozen earth.

The Christian religion followed a number of these themes, as follows: February 1 have become St. Brigit's Day, and February 2 became Candlemas, the day to make and bless candles for the liturgical 12 months. The 'dinner party of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary ' adapts the Maiden Goddess subject matter. The opportunity date of February 14 vintage Candlemas, Christianized as Valentine's Day is hired by some Covens.

Symbolism of Imbolc:
Purity, growth and Re-Newal, The Re-Union of the Goddess and the God, Fertility, and doling out of the old and making manner for the brand new.

Symbols of Imbolc:
Brideo'gas, Besoms, White plants, Candle Wheels, Brighid's Crosses, Priapic Wands (acorn-tipped), and Ploughs.

Herbs of Imbolc:
Angelica, Basil, Bay Laurel, Blackberry, Celandine, Coltsfoot, Heather, Iris, Myrrh, Tansy, Violets, and all white or yellow plant life.

Ingredients of Imbolc:
Pumpkin seeds, Sunflower seeds, Poppyseed desserts, cakes, scones, and breads, all dairy merchandise, Peppers, Onions, Garlic, Raisins, Spiced Wines and herbal Teas.

Incense of Imbolc:
Basil, Bay, Wisteria, Cinnamon, Violet, Vanilla, Myrrh.

Colors of Imbolc:
White, pink, crimson, Yellow, lt. Green, Brown.

Stones of Imbolc:
Amethyst, Bloodstone, Garnet, Ruby, Onyx, Turquoise.

Sports of Imbolc:
Candle lighting (mild Candles or lamps in every room of the residence proper after sunset for a couple of minutes to honor the sun's rebirth), Stone Gatherings, Snow trekking and looking for signs of Spring, Making of Brideo'gas and Bride's Beds, Making Priapic Wands, adorning Ploughs, Feasting, and Bon Fires maybe lit.

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CANDLEMAS The Light Returns

CANDLEMAS The Light Returns

It appears pretty not possible that the vacation of Candlemas need to be taken into consideration the start of Spring. Here within the Heartland, February second may additionally see a blanket of snow mantling the mom. Or, if the snows have gone, you will be sure the times are full of drizzle, slush, and metallic-grey skies -- the dreariest weather of the 12 months. In brief, the ideal time for a Pagan pageant of lights. And as for Spring, even though this will appear a tenuous starting, all of the little buds, vegetation and leaves will have arrived on agenda earlier than Spring runs its route to Beltane.
      'Candlemas' is the Christianized name for the holiday, of path. The older Pagan names were Imbolc and Oimelc. 'Imbolc' approach, literally, 'within the stomach' (of the mom). For inside the womb of mom Earth, hidden from our mundane sight however sensed by using a keener imaginative and prescient, there are stirrings. The seed that changed into planted in her womb at the solstice is quickening and the brand new year grows. 'Oimelc' method 'milk of ewes', for it's also lambing season.

      The holiday is also referred to as 'Brigit's Day', in honor of the outstanding Irish Goddess Brigit. At her shrine, the historic Irish capitol of Kildare, a set of 19 priestesses (no guys allowed) kept a perpetual flame burning in her honor. She become considered a goddess of fireplace, patroness of smithcraft, poetry and restoration (especially the recuperation touch of midwifery). This tripartite symbolism became sometimes expressed with the aid of pronouncing that Brigit had two sisters, also named Brigit. (incidentally, another shape of the name Brigit is Bride, and it's miles for this reason She bestows her unique patronage on any woman approximately to be married or handfasted, the woman being referred to as 'bride' in her honor.)

      The Roman Catholic Church could not very easily name the terrific Goddess of ireland a demon, in order that they canonized her as a substitute. Henceforth, she might be 'Saint' Brigit, customer saint of smithcraft, poetry, and healing. They 'defined' this through telling the Irish peasants that Brigit changed into 'definitely' an early Christian missionary sent to the Emerald Isle, and that the miracles she achieved there 'misled' the not unusual people into believing that she became a goddess. For a few cause, the Irish swallowed this. (there may be no restriction to what the Irish imagination can persuade itself of. For instance, they also came to consider that Brigit was the 'foster-mother' of Jesus, giving no concept to the implausibility of Jesus having spent his boyhood in eire!)

      Brigit's vacation become mainly marked by way of the kindling of sacred fires, for the reason that she symbolized the fireplace of delivery and recovery, the fire of the forge, and the hearth of poetic suggestion. Bonfires were lighted on the beacon tors, and chandlers celebrated their special excursion. The Roman Church was short to confiscate this symbolism as properly, the usage of 'Candlemas' as the day to bless all the church candles that could be used for the approaching liturgical 12 months. (Catholics could be reminded that the next day, St. Blaise's Day, is remembered for using the newly-blessed candles to bless the throats of parishioners, preserving them from colds, flu, sore throats, and so forth.)

      The Catholic Church, by no means one to chorus from piling excursion upon vacation, additionally called it the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (it's miles sudden how most of the old Pagan holidays had been transformed to Maryan Feasts.) The image of the Purification might also seem a touch obscure to trendy readers, but it has to do with the antique custom of 'churching women'. It was believed that ladies were impure for six weeks after giving delivery. And on account that Mary gave delivery on the winter solstice, she would not be purified till February 2d. In Pagan symbolism, this might be re-translated as when the terrific mother over again becomes the young Maiden Goddess.

      Nowadays, this holiday is mainly connected to weather lore. Even our American people-calendar maintains the culture of 'Groundhog's Day', a day to predict the coming climate, telling us that if the Groundhog sees his shadow, there can be 'six greater weeks' of bad climate (i.E., until the following antique holiday, female Day). This custom is historical. An old British rhyme tells us that 'If Candlemas Day be vibrant and clean, there will be  winters within the yr.' definitely, all of the cross-area days can be used as 'inverse' climate predictors, whereas the region-days are used as 'direct' climate predictors.

      Like the different excessive vacations or high-quality Sabbats of the Witches' yr, Candlemas is every now and then celebrated on it is change date, astrologically decided by using the solar's reaching 15-levels Aquarius, or Candlemas vintage style. Incidentally, some modern-day Pagan agencies have recently begun calling the holiday itself 'Brigit', presumably as a shorthand for 'Brigit's Day'. This lexical laziness is lamentable because it confuses a deity-name for the proper call of the holiday. The identical disconcerting trend can be visible inside the latest practice of relating to the autumnal equinox as 'Mabon', that is greater properly the call of a Welsh god-form.

      Another holiday that receives blended up in this is Valentine's Day. Ozark folklorist Vance Randolf makes this pretty clear by using noting that the old-timers used to have a good time Groundhog's Day on February 14th. This equal displacement is clear in jap Orthodox Christianity as well. Their dependancy of celebrating the delivery of Jesus on January 6th, with a similar put up-dated shift within the six-week length that follows it, puts the dinner party of the Purification of Mary on February 14th. It's miles amazing to think that the same confusion and lateral displacement of one of the vintage folk holidays may be seen from the Russian steppes to the Ozark hills, however such seems to be the case!

      By the way, there is speculation amongst linguistic students that the vary name of 'Valentine' has Pagan origins. Evidently it was commonplace for French peasants of the center a while to pronounce a 'g' as a 'v'. Consequently, the unique term may additionally had been the French 'galantine', which yields the English word 'gallant'. The word in the beginning refers to a dashing younger guy recognised for his 'affaires d'amour', a true galaunt. The usual institutions of V(G)alantine's Day make a good deal greater feel in this light than their vague connection to a mythical 'St. Valentine' can produce. Indeed, the Church has usually located it alternatively hard to give an explanation for this nebulous saint's connection to the secular pleasures of flirtation and courtly love.

      For current Witches, Candlemas O.S. May also then be seen as the Pagan version of Valentine's Day, with a de-emphasis of 'hearts and plant life' and the appropriate re-emphasis of Pagan carnal frivolity. This also re-aligns the holiday with the historic Roman Lupercalia, a fertility festival held at the moment, in which the clergymen of Pan ran through the streets of Rome whacking young women with goatskin thongs to make them fertile. The ladies appeared to experience the attention and often stripped so that you can afford higher objectives.

      One of the nicest folks-customs nonetheless practiced in many nations, and especially by way of Witches within the British Isles and elements of the U.S., is to place a lighted candle in each and every window of the residence (or as a minimum the windows that faced the street), starting at sundown on Candlemas Eve (February 1st), allowing them to hold burning till dawn. Make sure that such candles are nicely seated in opposition to tipping and protected from close by curtains, and so forth. What a cheery sight it's far on this bloodless, bleak and dreary night time to look house after house with candle-lit home windows! And, of path, in case you are your Coven's chandler, or in case you simply take place to like making candles, Candlemas Day is the day for doing it. A few Covens preserve candle-making parties and try to make and bless all the candles they'll be the use of for the entire 12 months in this day.

      Different customs of the holiday encompass weaving 'Brigit's crosses' from straw or wheat to loaf around the house for protection, acting rites of spiritual cleansing and purification, making 'Brigit's beds' to ensure fertility of mind and spirit (and frame, if favored), and making Crowns of light (i.E. Of candles) for the high Priestess to wear for the Candlemas Circle, similar to those worn on St. Lucy's Day in Scandinavian international locations. All in all, this Pagan competition of lighting fixtures, sacred to the younger Maiden Goddess, is one of the most lovely and poetic of the yr.

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Candlemas Day, Candlemas, Imbolc, Feast of Purification

Candlemas Day, Candlemas, Imbolc, Feast of Purification

Candlemas is a completely old vacation with a Christian-Pagan history. Its Christian model is called the Purification of the Virgin and is the quit/fruits of the forty day period after Mary God-Bearer had her baby on December 25.  Girls had to wait 40 days after childbirth earlier than coming into a church or Temple again because of "uncleanliness". This waiting length remains discovered in jap Orthodox Christian churches today, and all Christian church buildings time table the Christening for 40 days after the start in keeping with this historic purification exercise. Therefore nowadays is Yeshua's Christening or Naming Day while an exorcism is performed and the baby formally enters the Church.

This special 40-day duration in the Christian calendar is considered one of four such in the esoteric Church year.  The other 3 forty-day intervals are:  Fall Equinox  (Sept 21) to Halloween/AllSaints Day (Oct. 31, Nov.1), Spring Equinox (Mar 21)  to can also Day (may additionally 1) and of course, Lent.  Lent is the forty-day duration beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday every year.

Candlemas is a church "edition" of a pagan goddess vacation known as Imbolc wherein human beings mild candles to banish dark spooks. Candlemas is well known at the equal day as that pagan excursion, February 2d. The phrase Imbolc, variously spelled Imbolg, Oimelc and Imelg, approach "ewe-milk" due to the fact that is the time lambs had been born in old England, eire and maximum of Europe for that reason bringing lower back the flow of ewe's milk.

Jennifer Emick writes: February 1, Imbolc
these days (day after today, in step with some calendars) is the day of Candlemas, the competition of lights, a Midwinter competition. Acknowledged to Neopagans and historical Celts as Imbolc (Gaelic foundation, "in milk" or " inside the stomach"), a pageant of the Maiden Goddess and a conventional time to bless agricultural implements (especially the Plough) and livestock.

Neopagans celebrate the vacation with home advantages and lights candles to welcome the coming of the mild and the Goddess in Spring.

In ireland, the day is the competition of St. Bridget, a holdover from celebrations of the Celtic Goddess Brighid. Traditional "corn dollies" and "Bridget's crosses" are normal from straw.

Make a Crown of lighting fixtures for the Candlemas Queen
any other observance is to mild numerous taper candles (seven is exceptional) which are fashioned into a crown, called the Crown of lighting worn by the Candlemas Queen.  See the very cease of this web page for description:  "A Crown of lighting fixtures is prepared for the mom and left via the altar. Historically, the Crown ought to be of candles or tapers, that are lit in the course of the ritual."

Rev. Francis X. Weiser, SJ writes:

The Poles have a beautiful legend that Mary, the mom of God of the Blessed Thunder Candle (Matka Boska Gromniczna), watches on wintry nights around Candlemas, when hungry wolves are on rampage out of doors the napping village. Along with her thunder candle she wards off the ravenous percent and protects the peasants from all harm...

Throughout Europe Candlemas turned into considered one of the incredible days of climate forecasting. Famous perception claims that horrific climate and cloudy skies on February 2 suggest an early and rich summer. If the solar shines through the extra part of Candlemas Day, there can be at the least forty greater days of cold and snow. This superstition is acquainted to all in our well-known tale of the groundhog searching out his shadow on Candlemas Day.


Mark Raines writes:
Imbolc simply is the start of Spring, no matter the truth that there may additionally nevertheless be snow in a few locations and dreary skies almost anywhere! In case you appearance closely, you will see that the snow is only a blanket covering the splendor of the mom, which is ready to shine thru quickly. You'll see the first tips of Spring, in case you're simply seeking out them. On this spirit, Candlemas is well known. (note: Candlemas is the Christianized call for Imbolc, however the  are used nearly interchangeably via many earth-based totally agencies along with Wiccans these days. Groundhog Day is a secularized term, but it draws from a Pagan tradition. More on that in a minute)

Imbolc is intently related to the Celtic-Irish goddess Brigid. Imbolc is sacred to Brigid due to the fact she is a goddess of fireplace, of poetry, and of healing, all matters that go along with the innovative powers of the onset of spring. She is a powerful representation of the Maiden Goddess, and he or she has been nearly flawlessly preserved for us today by means of none other than the Roman Catholic Church. In preference to call her demon and risk the displeasure of all eire, they canonized Brigid and made her the client saint of poetry and healing. This appeased the Irish, who on the time likely noticed the Catholic saints as being very much like gods.

There's one very well-known culture of Imbolc, and that is the way of life of the groundhog's shadow predicting our weather. If a groundhog got here out of its hollow and noticed its shadow, that supposed six extra weeks of awful climate. This lifestyle continues to be extensively celebrated nowadays. Some other subculture is to position a candle on your window on Imbolc Eve, representing the eternal Flame of the Maiden Goddess.

Feast of  Purification

In fantasy and ritual in Christianity, Alan Watts says approximately the banquet of the Purification found in Catholicism, and with the aid of Anglicans and Lutherans: "subsequently, the rites of the Incarnation reach their climax with the feast of the Purification on February 2nd, in any other case known as Candlemas. For at this time the Church blesses all of the lights to be used in its ceremonies thruout the year, because it turned into at Christ's Presentation on the Temple that Simeon referred to as him "the light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the respect of thy human beings."...Because the choir chants...All the clergy and people assembled for Candlemas receive the blessed candles earlier than the altar, and then pass in procession with them around the church, making a song: O daughter of Sion adorn thy bride-chamber and welcome Christ the King: greet Mary with an embrace, who is the gate of heaven, for it's far she who bringeth the King of Glory, of the new light. ... During the mass that follows, all maintain their lighted candles at some point of the chanting of the Gospel" and various other instances inside the rite.

FEBRUARY 2d (Excerpt beneath Ret'd from http://www.Fellowshipofisis.Com/jc/jcfeb1.Html Jan 31, 2004)

Greek: DEMETER and PERSEPHONE; The Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, second Day:  (for the primary and 1/3 days of Feb., see the above link)

Roman: CERES and PROSERPINE; LUPA. (Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. Vol. Il. P. 51) "the listing of gala's for the complete Christian church was swelled with the aid of the consecration of the day [February 2nd] of the holy virgin Mary, that the people might not pass over their Lupercalia, which they had been familiar with rejoice in the month of February." notice by Soames: "This become instituted inside the reign of Justinian, and stuck to the second of February . . The Latins known as it . . Candlemass; due to the fact many candles have been then lighted up; as had been completed on the Lupercalia, the competition of Proserpine, whom her mom Ceres 'searched for with candles . . See Hospinian, de Fest. Christ, p. Fifty two.

(Whistler, English Fist. P. 86) "the early Church instituted on February second the banquet of lighting, blessed her candles, positioned via the altar in sheaves, and filled her basilicas with candleshine . . 'therefore', stated the Pope, 'what become done earlier than to the respect of Ceres, is now carried out to the -honour of the Virgin'. (Foot-note) Quoted by William Hone, The every-Day book, Vol. 1 Col. 202".

JUNO FEBRUA, The purifier. (Brewer, Dict.) "Candlemas Day. . It became the vintage Roman custom of burning candles to the goddess Februa, mother of Mars, to scare away evil spirits".

Celtic: BRIGANTIA, BRIGHID. (Denning and Phillips, Magical Philosophy, Vol. III. P. 166) "Brigid is the maximum widely effective of the Celtic Goddesses. She is the electricity of the brand new moon, of the spring of the yr, and of the flowing sea. In eire she is maximum famed, and in Britain she changed into Goddess of the huge tribe of the Brigantes. Her festival, from ancient instances to the prevailing, is the second of February, the Celtic FireFestival of Imbolc . . In Pagan instances, her statue become annually washed in sea or lake to have fun her competition, being conveyed ceremonially overland, in a chariot or a boat; in her associated with a deliver - she may be as compared to Isis (word: see March 5th). . Continually with candles and with water will we greet her, the top notch Moon-mother, patroness of poetry and of all making and of the arts of recovery."

(B. Morgan, Matriarchy e-newsletter, No. 2) "just as Hallowe'en marks the retreat into winter darkness and symbolises menstruation on the darkish of the moon, so Candlemass marks the opening out of the herbal international, ovulation, and emerges into the natural light of Spring first glimpsed on the winter Solstice. The gala's symbolise on any other level the Celtic perception in reincarnation; loss of life at Hallowe'en followed by way of gestation inside the darkish area-womb of the Goddess and rebirth in a brand new body at Candlemass. That is the time for initiations in witchcraft, a rebirth of the spirit.

"Candlemass is whilst we come spiralling out again from the darkness, and our matriarchal image, the spiral, appears to recur in many factors of Brigit's cult. The dynamic form of' her crosses, the curling coats of her sheep and perhaps even the twisted patterns in Aran wool, handed down from mom to daughter, are a part of her".

British-Roman: SUL-MINERVA. (B. Morgan, identification.) "Sul-Minerva of bath seems to be same with Brigid; a goddess of expertise and healing with an 'ashless fireplace' in her sanctuary. If Sul, whose name derives from the Celtic phrases for the attention (i.E. Suil) and seeing, is cognate with the Goddess of Silbury Hill, there could well have been a procession at Candlemass to her sacred spring, the Swellowhead, which begins to flow again in February, while the Queen 'comes from the mound' ".

English: THE wives. (Esther Harding, woman's Mysteries, p. 131) "within the north of britain . . Candlemas used to be referred to as The better halves dinner party Day as it became regarded as a fertility pageant".

Popular: THE WITCHES, incredible Sabbat. (Doreen Valiente, ABC of Witchcraft, p. 98) on Druidic links with Witchcraft: "the great Sabbats of the witches are identical with the four top notch yearly festivals of the Druids in Celtic international locations; particularly Beltane (30th April), Lughnassadh (1st August), Samhain (thirty first October) and Imbolc or Oimelc (second February)".

Jewish: THE VIRGIN MARY. (Esther Harding, lady's Myst. P. One hundred thirty) "some other historical festival of candles celebrated lengthy in the past for a moon goddess is now repeated at the identical date, February the second one, for the Virgin Mary, Moon of our Church. . This is the competition of Candlemas. It corresponds in date and customs to the Celtic Holy Day of St. Bride or St. Brigit. St. Brigit is the Christianized shape of the historical Celtic goddess Bridgit or Brigentis, a triune moon goddess whose worship was at one time very huge. On February the primary, as today within the Catholic Church on the pageant of Candlemas, the new fire became kindled and blessed".

(Whistler, English Fest. P. 87) An extract from an account written by a prebendary of Durham, in 1628, of John Cosin, bishop's chaplain, later Bishop of Durham: " 'On Candlemas Day last beyond, Mr. Cozens, in renuing that . . Ceremonie of burning candles in honour of Our Ladye, busied himself from  of the clocke inside the afternoon till foure, in mountain climbing lengthy ladders to paste up wax Candles within the stated Cathedral Church. The variety of all of the Candles burnt that night was two hundred and twenty, except sixteen torches: sixty of these burning tapers and torches standing up, and close to, the excessive Altar . .' " (identification.) "A writer to the Gentleman's mag in 1790 observed at Ripon that 'the Collegiate church was one endured blaze of light all the afternoon, from a giant number of candles'. Today, in all Roman Catholic church buildings, and in a few Anglican ones, the dinner party of lights is remembered, and there is lots blessing and processing with tapers . . Snowdrops are 'Mary's Tapers' - 'Candlemas Bells'. They are the day's precise flower".

THE CANDLEMAS QUEEN. (Farrar, 8 Sabbats, p. Sixty six) "Imbolg, second February . . In Christian tradition, the Crown of lighting fixtures is frequently worn by means of a completely young woman, presumably to symbolize the intense youngsters of the year".

In an example proven with the aid of Dr. Margaret Murray (The God of the Witches, p. 15) the Swedish Lucia-Queen is a girl wearing a crown of seven tapers set in a circle.

THE TRIPLE GODDESS; THE IMBOLG mom. (Farrar, eight Sabbats, p. Sixty six) "Imbolg . . The education:

"The excessive Priestess selects  women witches who, with herself, will constitute the Triple Goddess-Maid (attraction), mother (Ripeness) and Crone (expertise) - and allocates the 3 roles.

"A Crown of lights is prepared for the mother and left by using the altar. Historically, the Crown need to be of candles or tapers, that are lit for the duration of the ritual".

Groundhog Day. (Druids Cal.) "February 2d: Groundhog Day. " (Fell. Of Isis Dir.) "February 2d: Groundhog Day. Right down to Earth for increase".

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