Throw Candle and Candlestick Away

2 February

Lore and belief

England

Candlemas marked the point in the year when the days had grown long enough to manage without lights at evening prayers. Hone notes that the tapers used at vespers and litanies all winter were given up from Candlemas until All Hallows, and that this lay behind an old proverb in Ray’s collection. Another saw of the day held that once Candlemas is past, snow will not lie long.

On Candlemas-day Throw candle and candlestick away.

From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, cols. 203, 207. 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.
God Send Us the Light of Heaven No longer kept EnglandCandlemas takes its name from the blessing of candles by the clergy and their carrying in procession on the feast of the Purification.
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.

Throw Candle and Candlestick Away

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