God Send Us the Light of Heaven

2 February

No longer kept

England

Candlemas takes its name from the blessing of candles by the clergy and their carrying in procession on the feast of the Purification. Chambers says that in Catholic times the size of a person’s candle and the way it burned were taken as omens, and that the stumps brought home were believed to keep off storms, thunder, hail and evil spirits. Women also carried candles when they went to be churched after childbirth. Long after the Reformation, down to the time of Charles II, people still said a blessing when the lights were brought in at nightfall.

a meaning was attached to the size of the candles, and the manner in which they burned during the procession

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 1, pp. 213-214. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Beans in the Candlemas waddle Lore and belief SomersetRay's Collection of Proverbs has a Somerset rule for Candlemas: sow or set beans on Candlemas waddle.
The Candlemas Candle at Lyme Regis No longer kept DorsetA Dorset gentleman told Hone of a household custom he remembered from boyhood at Lyme Regis.
Throw Candle and Candlestick Away Lore and belief EnglandCandlemas marked the point in the year when the days had grown long enough to manage without lights at evening prayers.
Fair Maid of February Lore and belief EnglandCountry people tied certain flowers to the saints whose days fell when they came into bloom.
Briid’s Bed No longer kept Outer HebridesMartin, in his Description of the Western Islands, recorded that at Candlemas the mistress and servants of each house dressed a sheaf of oats in women's clothes, laid it in a large basket with a wooden club beside it, and called it Briid's Bed, after St Bride.
If Candlemas Day Be Dry and Fair Lore and belief England, ScotlandChambers found a belief all over Christendom that fine weather at Candlemas meant a long winter and a poor harvest, while a wet and stormy Candlemas was a good omen.
The Candlemas Ba’ Still kept RoxburghshireAnother Scottish Candlemas custom was a football match between the east and west ends of a town, the married men and the bachelors, or one parish and another, which brought the whole community out in high excitement.
The Candlemas King No longer kept ScotlandIn Scottish schools the children made their master a present of money on Candlemas Day, going up one by one to lay it on his desk.

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