An old English song goes: If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come winter, have another flight; If Candlemas bring clouds and rain, Go winter, and come not again. Feeling the sun on my face, without the usual buffeting wind, was a good reminder that the Earth is turning and spring is on its way. (One could say it's almost like the 1993 comedy "Groundhog Day" or even exactly like that.). This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. (Fox version), If Candlemas day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight. Such verse alludes to the notion of animalshistorically, groundhogs, hedgehogs, badgers, bearsdeciding to end or prolong their winter's sleep according to the weather. If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come, winter, have another flight; If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Go winter, and come not again. For instance, if a candle drips on one side when carried in church on Candlemas, this denotes a death of a family member during the year. In the deepest months of winter the sun doesnt touch it at all. But that alone doesn't make them reliable forecasters. He thinks over time there will be "some happy ground" and that may already be the case in Punxsutawney. According to an anonymous Franciscan friar, writing in a book calledMeditations on the Life of Christin the fourteenth century, its because when Mary received the child Jesus back from Simeon and Anna she, Joseph, and Anne her mother, walked around the altar in the Temple in a procession singing prophetic verses. In the United No enchanted snowy moonlit walks where surprised owls fly low overhead, no snow angels or sledging. Ritual purification stems back to a Jewish tradition that women were considered unclean after the birth of a child. Its been an odd winter, very dark but with none of the usual bright and dramatic snow of Scotland. time of year. Well, while you try and think of all the different titles for February 2nd, and Ill be amazed if anyone can get all five, Ill start to work my way through them. The festival was formerly known in the Roman Catholic church as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary but is now known as the Presentation of the Lord. The term "Imbolc" translates as either "in milk" or "in the belly," and marked How Candelmas Day Turned Into Groundhog Day - Escalon Times So winter: snow properly, or let spring through. Day celebrated on the same date. If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, winter won't come again", is perhaps the best known. Review from Terry Tyler: Its a fabulous story, a real page-turner and so well written. You are warming up while we are cooling down (not quite yet though). The book features a neurodivergent main character and some rather complicated romance. Candlemas hot or cold is a world of difference. But how accurate is Punxsutawney Phil? If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, winter will have another flight. If Candlemas bring clouds and rain, Go winter, and come not again. which was celebrated in pre-Christian Europe (and A sort of Catch 22 situation. If the child was a boy he was circumcised on the eighth day and then the woman was ceremonially unclean for another 33 days. It appears that the practice of blessing candles was frowned upon after the Reformation, with Archbishop Thomas Cranmer writing to Bishop Bonner on 27th January 1548 informing him that the Lord Protector has decided "that no candles should be borne upon Candlemas Day, nor also from henceforth ashes or palms used any longer." These pages are best viewed using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, or IE. We leave you with some facts and a question. will soon hear of the death of a close friend or relative; each toll of the Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. (Anonymous English poem) If Candlemas day be dry and fair, The half o' winter to come and mair, If Candlemas day be wet and foul, The half of winter's gone at Yule. Today, in the Church, we celebrate Candlemas but its no good checkingtodaysweather against the rhyme. Always on our minds: Texas celebrates 90 years of Willie Nelson, Sun shines on San Antonians celebrating 132nd Battle of Flowers parade, Fiesta enters final weekend; police probe Market Square shooting, Carolyn Bryant Donham, who accused Emmett Till before he was lynched, dies at age 88. If Candlemas day be dry and fair, Image: Presentation of Christ in the Temple, from the Sherbrooke Missal. The groundhog is a woodchuck. If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, winter will have another bite. Copyright The Learn English Network - All Rights Reserved. The ceremony of Candlemas Day, a ritual celebratedthroughout the Christian world that Mr. Morris observed was the blessing of the annual supply of the Churchs candles. That is still true in the Church today, but most of us have put Christmas behind us long before Candlemas. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Saint Sophronius was a bishop of Jerusalem in the early 7thcentury. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. And that gives us title number five for the 2ndFebruary. The expression calls on families, now that we are half way through winter, to take stock of their (prog) food supplies in their root cellars and feed for the animals (hay). Poem: If Candlemas Day be fair and bright by Anonymous - PoetryNook.Com Simeon held the baby Jesus and called him a Light to the World. The ceremony itself which returned to the stage last year after a COVID-19 hiatus features dancers, music, speeches and visitors from around the world. lighting of candles, as slightly longer days begin to be noticeable at this The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast later spread to the Western church, but as a feast of Mary rather than of Jesus, because Mary needed to go to the Temple to be purified. If Candlemas Day be fair and bright The hot place is a point on our property that is sheltered from both north and east winds by walls, and situated next to large windows that reflect the sunlight and bestow a sort of double sunning. If we have inadvertently included a copyrighted poem that the copyright holder does not wish to be displayed, we will take the poem down within 48 hours upon notification by the owner or the owner's legal representative (please use the contact form at http://www.poetrynook.com/contact or email "admin [at] poetrynook [dot] com"). If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter has another flight. Some of the best insights into the history of families and communities in this province can be garnered from the pages of the hundreds of diaries that have been deposited into archives in the province. The It is all completely unreliable, but surprisingly consistent across Europe and North America. set sail on Candlemas Day, believing that any voyage begun then will end in It just so happens that shadows occur on sunny days. Down with the holly, ivy, all, If Candlemas Day be sunny and bright | Archival Moments If Candlemas day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight. The holy family wouldnt even be living in Bethlehem by then, rhey were only there for a brief visit, to participate in the census. Just to insure that there is enough to get you through the winter. "And the first celebration that we know of was in the 1880s," Harman says. If Candlemas day be cloudy and grey, Winter soon will pass away. In his book The English Year, Steve Roud explains that, as the name suggests, Candlemas's "key element" was "the preponderance of candles". This is the point at which Ancient Israel welcomes its Messiah and then gives its Messiah to the world to be a light for all peoples. If Candlemas day be shower and rain, Winter is gone and will not come again. The name woodchuck is native to America. It was good. It is rather like a portal to another country, a warmer clime or different season. (Will Morgan/WHAM) Rochester, N.Y. Our Bright Spot shines on The Children's Business Fair hosted by First American Equipment Finance on Friday. It was believed that women were impure for six weeks after giving birth and If Candlemas bring clouds and rain, Go winter, and come not again. (Anonymous Scottish poem) Theyre a more intimate space than the blog. Thats good news for you over the pond. It's almost Groundhog Day! It lies along the Oder River at its confluence with the Oawa, lza, Bystrzyca, and Widawa rivers. The verb to present (paristanai) also means to offer, which evokes Jesus being presented as the priest who will offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice to free us from the slavery of sin, seal the new and eternal covenant with His blood, and open the gates to the true promised land of heaven. However, if the light of Candlemas Day radiates through the gloom and darkness of the day, the end of winter is near. There's still a lot we can learn from Groundhog Day, both about our climate and our culture, several experts told NPR. That was one of several traditions that German settlers in Pennsylvania brought to the U.S., Harman says, along with Christmas trees and the Easter bunny. If a hedgehog saw its shadow, there would be a "second winter" or six more weeks of bad weather, according to German lore. You will have to wait until Tuesday to see what the weather is like and find out whether if the old rhymes are right winter is over or not. Second, Candlemas Day also was important in the lives of farmers. This ancient festival marked the mid point of winter, half way between the winter solstice (shortest day) and the spring equinox. He then blessed the Holy Family, and said in turn to Mary: This child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare (Lk 2:34-35). More than several/a few/a couple of you have asked. Imbolc Customs & Lore - Circle Sanctuary Get the latest business insights from Dun & Bradstreet. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. How did the U.S. end up celebrating Groundhog Day in the first place? If Candlemas day be shower and rain, Winter is gone and will not come again. You can draw the same conclusion by simply looking out a window in Punxsutawney on February 2. "If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, winter will have another fight. Thats title number one. If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, If Candlemas day be cloudy and grey, Winter soon will pass away. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Strictly speaking, today isnt Candlemas at all as its not the 2ndyet, but we are now allowed to keep the feast on the closest Sunday. Tradition says that North America will get six more weeks of winter if Phil sees his shadow and an early spring if he does not. Before Groundhog Day, It Was Candlemas - New England Historical Society In the diaries of Edward Morris,Mr. Morris observed on, The Sale of Obscene Pencils in Chance Cove, World Photo Day and Newfoundland and Labrador Collections, Lady Day Fish; August 15th in Newfoundland. Lovely post. Its a special day, and it has five different titles how many can you name? Fri, April 28th 2023, 4:03 PM PDT. It dates back to ancient traditions first pagan, then Christian marking the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox, says Troy Harman, a history professor at Penn State University who also works as a ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park. So if the bright sun overshadows the brightness of Candlemas Day, there will be more winter. It's not only groundhogs that are getting in on the fun. We were dedicated to God, and given the name, Christian. We, too, received a lit candle from the paschal candle, at which the priest said, You have been enlightened by Christ. In the Greek Church, it is called Hypapante (a word for "meeting"), in reference to Jesus' meeting in the temple with the aged Simeon, to whom it had been revealed that he would not die before the meeting of the Messiah. Another tradition holds that anyone who hears funeral bells tolling on Candlemas "Maybe it's a good thing for marmots in that you have a longer growing season, but then every day you're active, you also face some risk of predation," he explains. At the end of this time, women were brought to the Temple or Synagogue to be purified. If the child was a girl she was unclean for 66 days. These cookies do not store any personal information. After many years in the Diocese of Southwark we are now enjoying life on the south coast of England in the Diocese of Chichester. "So I sort of see the ability to, if you're fortunate enough to have a groundhog living in your backyard, to sort of pay attention to it and enjoy it and learn from it and maybe give up some of your tomatoes or apples.". For this reason, traditionally at least since the seventh century, candles have been blessed at Mass this day that will be used throughout the year, hence coining the term Candlemas.. The Irish have a Gaelic. In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, a groundhog known as "Punxsutawney Phil" predicts the weather every 2nd February: "According to legend, if Phil sees his shadow on Feb. 2, the scared groundhog returns to his burrow and the USA is in store for six more weeks of winter. This "interpretation" of Candlemas Day became the norm for most of Europe. If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight; If Candlemas Day be wind and rain, Winter has gone and will not come again. get nicer. If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight. Jesus brings light to show us the way ahead. Candles were blessed in church services and then carried around the parish, their light symbolising Christ lighting the way for his followers and harking back to Simeon's words, when he blessed the Christ child and his parents in the temple, recorded in the Gospel of Luke about Christ being "A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel". It became more widely celebrated from 542 AD when the emperor Justinian ordered its observance at Constantinople,the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, as a thanksgiving for the end of a plague. Statistics say not so much: Phil's accuracy rate is about 40% over the last decade. The day fine enough but the walking very rough. If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come, Winter, have another flight; If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Go Winter, and come not again. Latin Mass Society - Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. 4, Rare and Amusing Insults: Cockalorum, Snollygoster, and More, 'Couple,' 'Few,' and 'Several': The (Mostly) Definitive Guide. of yucky, winter weather, if it isn't nice on Candlemas Day, the weather should Allow us to elucidate. On that feast day, clergy would bless and distribute all the candles needed for winter and over time the focus of the day became increasingly about predicting how long winter would last. As decades of repeated stories tell, if the famous Punxsutawney groundhog ("Phil") sees its shadow on the second of February, there will be six more weeks of winter; if not, there will be an early spring. Today is Candlemas, when, according to folklore, the weather is supposed to predict the conditions for the rest of the winter: If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight, But And his light is for all. As you can read, there is no mention of an animal of any kind in the preceding song. (Fox version) If Candlemas day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight. If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, Winter will not come again. And yet Christmas is not all the story. As part of that research, Blumstein spends time on skis, in the snow, waiting for the yellow-bellied marmots to come out from hibernation. The mother continued to stay at home for 33 days for her blood to be purified. Winter will have another fight. There are many weather rhymes associated with the festival. Despite lack of badgers this tradition crossed the Atlantic and became Groundhog Day. But, if he doesn't see his shadow, the country can expect warmer temperatures and an early spring." Both rhymes mean that if it is nice on Candlemas Day you can expect six more weeks Candlemas is observed on the same day as Groundhog Day, and it commemorates the occasion when the Virgin Mary, in accordance with Jewish law, went to the holy temple in Jerusalem both to be purified 40 days after the birth of her son and to present Jesus to God as her firstborn. If Candlemas Day be fair and bright Winter will have another fight. As we consider the feast of the Presentation, we remember that our parents presented us at church for our baptism. therefore falls on the following February 2. It made me think about the passage and circle of time, of the constancy of the land on which we live and the transient nature of human life. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. Winter will have another fight. Some people lit candles to scare away evil spirits on the dark winter nights. Photograph: Steve & Ann Toon/Robert Harding World Imagery/Corbis. "There's the instincts and the intuition and the imagination that every human being has that has to come into balance with logic and reason.". Something shared (winter) on a completely different note, considering I live in Mexico. February 2 is Candlemas Day Blessing of the candles that are used during the year. / If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, / Go, Winter, and come not again.. And elucidating 'Candlemas' on the same day, Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. And a tradition which in normal times we keep at St Johns in common with Christians around the world as we celebrate the light of Jesus in our lives. Groundhog Day Climate - National Weather Service The festival is called Candlemas beacuse this was the day that all the Church's candles for the year were blessed. It's believed that if there's bright weather on Candlemas there would be more bad weather to come (just like the Cailleach). (Traditional). From the Archives What did Tudor people sound like? This tradition may have European roots and coincides with the Christian holiday of Candlemas, which was about the purification of the Virgin Mary, but also used to indicate the first signs of spring. An old English song went as follows: "If Candlemas be fair and bright, / Come, Winter, have another flight. Delivered to your inbox! For my eyes have witnessed your saving deed, displayed for all the peoples to see: A revealing light to the Gentiles, the glory of your people Israel (Lk 2:29-32). Beeswax candles were blessed by being sprinkled with holy water and having incense swung around them, and then the candles distributed to everyone in the church. We're not meteorologists, but the science behind this forecast is questionable. The Irish roots behind America's Groundhog Day - IrishCentral.com Candlemas Day is another name for the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Simple Preparations for Candlemas - Meagan Rose Wilson In summer it can reach unbearable temperatures. And there are more furry forecasters out there too. Note Joseph and Mary made the offering of the poor (Lk 2:24). This Candlemas (2nd of February) post was originally published in 2014. What is Candlemas Day? - Catholic Straight Answers Fine morning, light frost, wind from the north, north west. At the same time, technological advances have made us less in tune with the changing of the seasons: People once looked up to the stars and sun to determine the time of day or year; now they look down at their cell phone screens. While some people consider groundhogs a nuisance because they like to snack on garden produce, he thinks living with urban and suburban wildlife is a good thing as it brings people closer to nature. One tradition associated with Candlemas is the idea that the weather on Candlemas Day is a predictor of whether winter is nearly over: If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come winter, have another flight; If Candlemas bring clouds and rain, Go winter, and come not again. After the 40 days, the mother and the father came to the temple for the rite of purification, which included the offering of a sacrifice a lamb for a holocaust (burnt offering) and a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering, or for a poor couple who could not afford a lamb, two pigeons or two turtledoves. Grey. And Candlemas Day Thank you for such an image in my imagination. The wax was allowed to drip on the head (hat) and shoulders and on the shoes of the children. "Any place that has a groundhog these days is trying to get some [cred] by it," Blumstein says. If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come winter, have another flight. The Candlemas Connection | Faith Magazine New Englanders who lived in old houses used to watch the cracks and crevices in their walls on February 2. Let me give you a clue to the first two titles. Nowhere in the Churchs celebrations throughout Christmas do we see this more clearly than in this feast which marks the end of the Christmas season, as Simeon proclaims Jesus to be a light for all the nations. On Thursday morning, thousands of early risers either tuned in or bundled up to watch Punxsutawney Phil emerge from a tree stump and predict the weather. Similarly, an old Scottish rhyme is "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, / There'll be twa winters in the year." light of the candles is symbolic of Christ as the light of the world, to stick to tradition all the Groundhog Day was officially recognized in the United States during the late 1800s and was popularized in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, by news media. Phil did not see his shadow. Plus, human meteorologists have far more advanced methods for predicting the weather now than they did when Phil first got the gig in 1887. Weather eye: If Candlemas Day be fair and bright - The Times ADSGARD SP Z O O Company Profile - Dun & Bradstreet The Messiah that had been promised to Gods people for so long is now born as one of us. People believed that Candlemas predicted the weather for the rest of the winter. indoors. Still, he says there's a lot humans can learn from groundhogs' behavior. On the Pagan side it occurs in the middle This day also marks the ritual presentation of the baby Jesus to God in the Temple at Jerusalem. There is something magical that happens with the light of the sunset and snow. If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, Winter will take another flight; If Candlemas Day be foul and rain, Winter is gone and won't come again. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. All poems are shown free of charge for educational purposes only in accordance with fair use guidelines. "If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter has another flight. To end, we pose this question: if the weather is "fair and bright," why doesn't the groundhog stay outside and get some sun instead of retreating to darkness? If she forgets to do this or oversleeps the weather is wet and windy, thus bringing winter to a rapid end because of her lack of firewood. and distributing candles and carrying them in procession before the mass. A Modern Catholic's Guide to Celebrating Candlemas Also, Joseph and Mary were obliged by the Torah to redeem their first born son: The Lord spoke to Moses and said, Consecrate to me every first-born that opens the womb among the Israelites, both of man and beast, for it belongs to me (Ex 13:1). Forty days after His birth, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple for the rites of purification and dedication as prescribed by the Torah. Our Autumn/Spring will begin soon , Ive nominated you for a Versatile Blogger Award : The Christian church later expanded this idea into the festival of Candlemas, which commemorates the moment when the Virgin Mary went to the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after Jesus' birth to be purified and present him to God as her firstborn. My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord! So he's able to confirm that while Groundhog Day is pegged to Candlemas, it also coincides with the time of year when groundhogs in the northeastern U.S. start to emerge. According to the Book of Leviticus (12:1-4), when a woman bore a male child, she was considered unclean for seven days. Germany went a step further by making animals specifically hedgehogs part of the proceedings. How every letter can be (annoyingly) silent. Due to the poor weather at Streets frozen again but no cold such as we have had. Candlemas, given its occurrence in the beginning of February, also became a day on which people would prognosticate the arrival of spring according to its sunny or cloudy skies, as the lyrics of one old English song goes, "If Candlemas be fair and bright, / Come, Winter, have another flight; / If Candlemas bring clouds and rain, / Go, Winter, and come not again." It refers to the meeting between Jesus and Simeon. Wrocaw, German Breslau, city, capital of Dolnolskie wojewdztwo (province), southwestern Poland. Candlemas is known as Ground-hog Day, for on that day the ground-hog comes annually out of his hole, after a long winter nap, to look for his shadow. Its a day when we think about the weather. On Candlemas night, many people place lighted candles in their windows at home. Candlemas became an important date to these Christians in the centuries following their conversion. And if this saying is true, theres hope for that. It is amusing that our issues back on February 2, 1871 are much the same. just before sunset? Some people believe that the Celtic Sabbat of Imbolc, Farmer's Proverbs 'A farmer should, on Candlemas Day, Have half his corn and half his hay.' 'On Candlemas Day if the thorns hang adrop, You can be sure of a good pea crop.' German Proverb. This section is in advanced English and is only intended to be a guide, not to As one English folk song put it: "If Candlemas be fair and bright / Come, Winter, have another flight; If Candlemas brings clouds and rain / Go Winter, and come not again." Germany went a step further by making animals specifically hedgehogs part of the proceedings. If Candlemas Day be fair and bright | View from the Valley So the Presentation is a proclamation of Christ Messiah and Priest, Lord and Savior. Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2nd and dictates that if a groundhog emerges from hibernation to see its shadow, and retreats, six more weeks of winter are ahead. Though I much prefer this poem about the groundhog: Groundhog in your hole so deepLift your head and take a peepIf your shadow makes you leapCurl back up and go to sleep. A rhyme called "Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve" by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674) Wroclaw | Facts, History, & Attractions | Britannica Have one of the children, or a guest, read the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon (Luke 2:22-40). Why, then, do we continue looking to creatures for answers on Feb. 2, year after year after year? (2011) 630,131; (2017 est.) Candlemas Day (the Christian festival of lights ) Eat your supper by the light of the day. If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, winter will have another bite. Candlemas, or the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, is celebrated on 2nd February. the time of year, it was almost impossible to have a bonfire festival and In fact, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus thats title number three counting Christmas Day as day one, is kept 40 days after Christmas as it has been since the 4thcentury. All rights reserved. And that name comes from the ancient custom of processing with candles on the day, symbolising the entry of Christ into the Temple, and celebrating Christ as the Light of the World.
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