from The Stripping of the Altars, re: today

[truepenny]

Candlemas, the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary or, alternatively, of the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple, was celebrated forty days after Christmas, on 2 February, and constituted the last great festival of the Christmas cycle. The texts prescribed for the feast in breviary and missal emphasize the Christmas paradoxes of the strength of the eternal God displayed in the fragility of the new-born child, of the appearance of the divine light in the darkness of human sin, of renewal and rebirth in the dead time of the year, and of the new life of Heaven manifested to Simeon's, and the world's, old age. Celebrated as a "Greater Double"--that is, of lesser solemnity only than the supreme feasts such as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, but of equal status to Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, and All Saints--its importance in the popular mind is reflected in the fact that it was one of the days on which, according to the legend of St Brendan, Judas was allowed out of Hell to ease his torment in the sea.

Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. pp. 15-16.
---

I like sharing the weird things I learn. It was one of the repeated and profound disappointments of my childhood that the people around me did not find the things I told them as fascinating as I did. But in general I've found that when I post something weird and recherche here, at least one person will post back going, Wow! Neat!

And the Candlemas ideas of light and rebirth put Groundhog Day in a new perspective, whether Christianity itself means anything to you or not. I've never quite understood the point of Groundhog Day, but now I kind of do. Looking for light, awaiting the promise of the rebirth of Spring. I can get behind that.

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that in Western Europe it's early Spring already. In the British Isles, snowdrops will be over, crocuses will be out, daffodils will be starting to show shoots though probably not yet flowers, grass will be getting spring growth, willows will be burning and buds will already be lengthening on early trees. There'll still be frosts, and in Lancaster this is the coldest and sunniest two weeks of the year, but the back of winter is broken and spring is advancing.

We have a ton of snow here, and two more months of winter to come, it doesn't feel like Imbolc, excuse me, Candlemass, which is doubtless why people on this continent decided on Groundhog Day instead -- it fits the climate better.

Spring in Britain lasts from February until May. Spring here comes -- at least it did last year -- like it does in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

In Australia, they're celebrating Lughnasa, Lammas. I know this because vassilissa was posting about it yesterday.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I didn't know they let Judas out of hell. Wow! Neat!

[papersky.livejournal.com]

That they let him out to see the sea in February is one of the jmost positive things I've heard about Christianity for a long time.

You wouldn't believe how much I miss the sea.