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How men were wont for to discerne If the sun shines bright on Candlemas day, If the sun shines bright on Candlemas day, |
Yemaya,
© Mel Curtiss, published here by permission with thanks |
When Candlemas-day is come and gone,
The snow lies on a hot stone.
Traditional
A faire candlemas, a fowle Lent.
English traditional proverb
The badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day, and, if he finds snow, walks abroad; but if he sees the sun shining he draws back into his hole.
German proverb
The shepherd would rather see the wolf enter his stable on Candlemas day than the sun.
German proverb
At the day of Candlemas,
Cold in air and snow on grass;
If the sun then entice the bear from his den,
He turns round thrice and gets back again.
French proverb
As long before Candlemas as the lark is heard to sing, so long will he be silent afterwards on account of the cold.
German proverb
Gif the lavrock sings afore Candlemas,
She'll mourn as lang after it.
Scottish proverb
As lang as the bird sings before Candlemas, it will greet [cry]
after it.
Scottish proverb
On Candlemas Day, if the thorns hang a drop,
Then you are sure of a good pea crop.
Sussex, UK, proverb
If it snows on February 2nd, only so much as may be seen on a black ox, then summer will come soon.
English proverb
If on February 2nd the goose find it wet, then the sheep will have grass on March 25th.
English proverb
When drops hang on the fence on February 2nd, icicles will hang there on March 25th.
English proverb
The hind had as lief see
his wife on the bier
As that Candlemas-day
should be pleasant and clear.
Proverb: Ray
Kindle the
Christmas brand, and then
Till sunset let it burn;
Which quench'd, then lay it up again,
Till Christmas next return.
Part must be kept, wherewith to teend
The Christmas log next year;
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend
Can do no mischief there.
Robert Herrick (1591 -
1674), English poet;
'Ceremony upon
Candlemas Day', from
Christmas Poems of Herrick
Si Sol splendescat Maria purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante.
Sir Thomas Browne; Vulgar Errors
About Candlemas Day
Every good goose shall lay.
English proverb*
*It is observed of geese, that in case the waters are frozen up (as in some hard winters they are) about their treading time, then the most part of their eggs will prove addled. The reason is said to be because the goose proves more fruitful when she is trod by the gander on the water, than on the land.
Worlidge; Systema Agriculturae ('tread' = copulate with)
Foul weather is no news;
hail, rain and snow,
Are now expected, and
esteem'd no woe;
Nay, 'tis an omen bad,
the yeomen say,
If Phoebus shows his face
the second day.
Country Almanac for 1676, February
Then comes the day wherein the Virgin
offered Christ unto
The Father chief, as Moses's law
commanded hir to do.
Then numbers great of tapers large,
both men and women bear
To Church, being hallowed there with pomp
and dreadful words to hear.
This done, each man his candle lights,
Where chiefest seemeth he,
Whose taper greatest may be seen;
And fortunate to be,
Whose candle burneth clear and bright:
A wondrous force and might
Doth in these candles lie, which if
At any time they light,
They sure believe that neither storm
Nor tempest doth abide,
Nor thunder in the skies be heard,
Nor any devil's spide,
Nor fearful sprites that walk by night,
Nor hurts of frost or hail ...
When a man dies he is like those who are being initiated into the mysteries ... Our whole life is but a succession of wanderings and painful courses ... but as soon as we exit, places of purity receive us, with songs and dance and the solemnities of holy words and sacred visions.
Plutarch; today is the second day of the
Lesser Eleusinian
Mysteries, ancient Greece
Imbolg: The Preparation:
The High Priestess selects two women witches who, with herself, will represent the Triple Goddess-Maid (Enchantment), Mother (Ripeness) and Crone (Wisdom) – and allocates the three roles.
A Crown of Lights is prepared for the Mother and left by the altar. Traditionally, the Crown should be of candles or tapers, which are lit during the ritual.
Janet and Stewart Farrar, Eight
Sabbats for Witches, p. 66
Czech folk sayings for Hromnice:
Svítí-li slunce na Hromnice, bude zimy o šest nedel více.
If the sun is shining on Hromnice, there will be six more weeks of winter.
Jihne-li na Hromnice, prilož do kamen; mrzne-li, po zime amen.
If the snow is melting on Hromnice, add more wood to the fire; if it's freezing, the winter is over.
Zelené Hromnice – bílé velikonoce.
Green Hromnice – white Easter.
Vyjde-li jezevec o Hromnicích z díry, za ctyri nedele zpátky zas pílí.
If the badger comes out of his hole on Hromnice, he'll be rushing back four weeks later.
Jest-li o Hromnicích teplo, staví medved boudu; pakli o Hromnicích zima, bourá medved boudu.
If Hromnice is warm, the bear builds himself a shed. If Hromnice is cold, the bear tears down his shed.
Na Hromnice husa po vode
– na velikonoce po lede.
If the goose swims on water on Hromnice, it will walk on ice at Easter.
Na Hromnice pul krajíce a pul píce.
Have half of your loaf and half of your fodder left on Hromnice.
Na Hromnice o hodinu více.
On Hromnice, the day becomes an hour longer (than on winter solstice).
Na Hromnice zima s jarem potkává se.
On Hromnice, winter and spring meet.
Kdyby o Hromnicích napadlo jen tolik snehu, co je na cerné kráve znát, bude úrodný
rok.
If as little snow falls on Hromnice as can be noticed on a black cow, the year will be fertile.
Na Hromnice kalužky, budou jabka i hrušky.
If there are puddles of water on Hromnice, there will be apples and pears.
Na Hromnice má sedlák radeji vlka ve chléve i ženu na marách než slunce.
On Hromnice, a farmer would rather have a wolf in his barn or a wife dead than the sun in the sky.
Nelle Gwynne
Sweet heart, that no taint of the throne or the stage
Could touch with unclean transformation, or alter
To the likeness of courtiers whose consciences falter
At the smile or the frown, at the mirth or the rage,
Of a master whom chance could inflame or assuage,
Our Lady of Laughter, invoked in no psalter,
Praise be with thee yet from a hag-ridden age.
Our Lady of Pity thou wast: and to thee
All England, whose sons are the sons of the sea,
Give thanks, and will not hear if history snarls.
When the name of the friend of her sailors is spoken;
And thy lover she cannot but love - by the token
That thy name was the last on the lips of King Charles.
Algernon Swinburne,
English poet; Nell Gwynne,
English actress who rose from a fruit-barrow girl to the mistress of
King Charles II,
was born on February 2, 1650
My life is music. And in some vague, mysterious, and subconscious way, I have always been driven by a taut inner spring which has propelled me to almost compulsively reach for perfection in music,
often – in fact, mostly – at the expense of everything else in my life.
Stan Getz, American jazz saxophonist, born on February 2, 1927
The governors of the world believe, and have always believed, that virtue can only be taught by teaching falsehood, and that any man who knew the truth would be wicked. I disbelieve this, absolutely and entirely. I believe that love of truth is the basis of all real virtue, and that virtues based upon lies can only do harm.
Bertrand
Russell, English philosopher, who died on February 2, 1970
Freedom of opinion is important for many reasons, especially because it is a necessary condition of all progress, intellectual, moral, political, and social. Where it does not exist, the status quo becomes stereotyped, and all originality, even the most necessary, is discouraged.
Bertrand Russell
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.
Bertrand Russell
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so.
Bertrand Russell
In his youth Wordsworth sympathized with the French Revolution, went to France, wrote good poetry, and had a natural daughter. At this period, he was called a 'bad' man. Then he became 'good,' abandoned his daughter, adopted correct principles, and wrote bad poetry.
Bertrand Russell
Of all kinds of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.
Bertrand Russell; Marriage and Morals
It's co-existence or no existence.
Bertrand Russell
"History," Stephen said, "is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake."
James Joyce, Irish novelist, born on February 2, 1882, Ulysses
You cannot truly
appreciate Atlas Shrugged until you have read it in the original
Klingon.
Sea Wasp (seawasp#wizvax.net) in
rec.arts.sf.written
February 2 is the
33rd day of the year in the Gregorian
calendar, with 332 days remaining (333 in leap years).
Calendar
converter Almanacs,
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Wayback Machine might help you
locate the original.
Candlemas
On Candlemas Day it shall be declared, that the bearing of candles is done in memory of Christ, the spiritual light, whom Simeon did prophesy, as it is read in the church that day.
Robert
Chambers,
(Ed.), The Book of Days: A miscellany of popular antiquities in connection
with the calendar, etc,
W
& R Chambers, London, 1881 (1879
Edition is online and 1869 edition here
with CD-ROM available; See also The English Year:
A Personal Selection from Chambers' Book of Days
Candlemas is one
of the Scottish
quarter
days in the Christian calendar and formally marks the
end of the Christmas season. Formerly called by Roman Catholics the Feast
of the Purification of the Virgin
Mary, now called by them the Presentation
of Our Lord. In Roman Catholic churches all the candles that will be
needed in the church throughout the year are consecrated on this day.
The festival comes 40 days after the traditional day for celebrating the birth of Jesus in the Western church, December 25, and therefore corresponds to the day on which his mother, Mary, according to Jewish law (see Leviticus 12), should have attended a ceremony of ritual purification, as described in the Gospel of Luke 2: 22-39.
The customs of Candlemas have an ancient
pre-Christian heritage: the ancient Romans had a custom of burning candles
to drive away evil spirits, and the purification goddess
Juno Februata, celebrated today in
ancient Rome, was commemorated with candles as later applied to the Virgin
Mary.
It is not actually known if it was a Christian ceremony engrafted onto the Roman rite of februation, or purification, or not, because it has been a Christian ceremony for a very long time, but the parallels are striking and it is probably more than coincidence.
Candlemas in olde Scotland
Today is a
quarter
day in the Christian
calendar, Scotland (due to Candlemas). Scottish schoolchildren made small presents of money to teachers on this day. The
boy and girl who gave most were called King and Queen respectively.
Children were then dismissed for a holiday, forming a procession along the
streets, carrying the King and Queen of Candlemas. The latter part of the
day was the Candlemas bleeze, or blaze, a bonfire of furze.
Healing of the insane at Strathfillan
pool, old Scotland
"At Strathfillan,
there is a deep pool, called the Holy Pool, where, in olden times, they
were wont to dip insane people. The ceremony was performed after sunset
on the first day of the quarter, O. S.,* and before sunrise next
morning. The dipped persons were instructed to take three stones from
the bottom of the pool, and, walking three times round each of three
cairns on the bank, throw a stone into each. They were next conveyed to
the ruins of St Fillan's chapel; and in a corner called St Fillan's bed,
they were laid on their back, and left tied all night. If next morning
they were found loose, the cure was deemed perfect, and thanks returned
to the saint. The pool is still (1843) visited, not by parishioners, for
they have no faith in its virtue, but by people from other and distant
places."
New Statistical
Account of Scotland, parish of Killin, 1843; in Robert Chambers,
(Ed.), The Book of Days: A miscellany of popular antiquities in connection
with the calendar, etc,
W
& R Chambers, London, 1881 (1879
Edition is online and 1869 edition here
with CD-ROM available; See also The English Year:
A Personal Selection from Chambers' Book of Days
[* The first day of quarters in Scotland is not same as in
England and elsewhere. They are Candlemas, Feb 2; Whitsunday,
(arbitrarily
set at May 15);
Lammas, Aug 1; and Martinmas, Nov 11. It's
debatable whether to interpret these dates as OS (Old Style), or new.]
Superstition concerning Candlemas
If every
remnant of Christmas decoration is not removed from the church by
Candlemas there will be a death in the family occupying the pew where the
decoration is left.
The Candlemas Ba'
Another Scottish custom was a football match (The Candlemas Ba'): residents of one half of town against another, or single men vs married, and so on.Jedburgh Ba' Game
Awakening the Ground
In Western Europe, this was the time for preparing the fields for the first planting.
Purification flower
The snowdrop, in flower about now in
the Northern Hemisphere, is called the Purification flower.
Folklore, customs, pre-Christian origins of:
Epiphany Candlemas/Imbolc Hall Sunday Collop Monday Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day
Ash Wednesday & Lent Mid-Lent Care Sunday Painful Friday Lazarus Saturday
Palm Sunday Spy Wednesday Maundy Thursday Good Friday Easter Saturday Easter
Easter Monday Easter Tuesday Hocktide Ascension Rogation Days Whitsunday/Whitsuntide
Corpus Christi May Day/Beltaine Lammas/Lughnasadh Michaelmas Halloween/Samhain
Martinmas Advent Christmas Eve Christmas More at Articles Index
Hundreds of feast days of saints, gods and goddesses at Wilson's Almanac Book of Days
Wives'
Feast Day, north of England
Mentioned,
without elaboration, in Hone
(William Hone, The
Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and Co.,
London, 1878; 1825-26
edition online, p103) after
Brand (John Brand [1744
- 1806], Observations
on the popular antiquities of Great Britain: Including the Whole of Mr.
Bourne's 'Antiquitates Vulgares' (1777)).
Pennick (Nigel Pennick, The
Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA,
1992, p. 39), simply says it is another name for Candlemas in the north of
England.
Forty Shilling Day, Wotton, near Dorking, Surrey, date subject to alteration
"Five clever and intrepid boys under the age of sixteen who are willing to brave the weather of a cold churchyard at Wotton in February, and who have retentive memories, can earn themselves 40 shillings each under the terms of William Glanville's will. To do so, they have to stand with both hands on his tombstone, recite the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments. Next, they have to read aloud the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians, and follow this by writing two verses of the Epistle in a clear and legible hand.
"In 1717, when William Glanville made his will, 40 shillings was a considerable sum of money, but by choosing to die on 2 February (the date of his death being the day on which the commemorative service was to take place), he made it more difficult for the bequest to be honoured than if he had died in a milder month. The weather has not always been conducive to such an outdoor ceremony: on some occasions it has been postponed and on others a makeshift tent has been erected over the grave. If five boys can't be found from Wotton, neighbouring parishes are entitled to make up the numbers." Source
First Monday after Candlemas, Hurling
the Silver Ball, St Ives, Cornwall, UK
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