It’s Groundhog Day!

In Scotland, we have a number of old saws about Candlemas (Oe of the Term Days for the payment of rents)

If Candlemas day be dry and fair,
The half o’ winter ‘s to come and mair,
If Candlemas day be wet and foul,
The half of winter’s gane at Yule.

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There’ll be twa winters in the year.

Anyone who would rely on West-Central Pennsylvania weather as an accurate prediction of things to come is nuts. Wednesday through Friday we had sub-zero temperatures. It will be in the 50s with more rain next week – something I despise because I have a leak I need to get fixed.

Of more importance today is that it is Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation, and according to the Traditional Latin Mass calendar, the final day of Chrismastide. Pre-Lent is just around the corner. We TLMers have no such thing as Ordinary Time because there is nothing ordinary about the cycle of worship in the Church.
From the St. John Cantius website:

The Nunc Dimmitis, spoken by Simeon after he has seen the Christ Child:
, Now dismiss Thy servant, O Lord,
In peace, according to Thy word:
For mine own eyes hath seen Thy salvation,
Which Thou hast prepared in the sight of all the peoples,
A light to reveal Thee to the nations
And the glory of Thy people Israel.

It is customary to bring candles from home to be blessed—at least 51% beeswax candles that one uses for devotional purposes (candles for the family altar, Advent candles, etc.)—so they can be lit after dusk on All Saints’ Day (1 November), during the Sacrament of Unction, and during storms and times of trouble. A bit of very old poetry summarizes the use of blessed candles to ward off troubles:

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
Both in these candles lie, which if
At any time they light,
They sure believe that neither storm
Nor tempest cloth 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.

From the Pieta prayer book comes this prayer to pray while burning a blessed candle (or pieces of blessed palm) during those storms:

Jesus Christ a King of Glory has come in Peace.+ God became man, + and the Word was made flesh.+ Christ was born of a Virgin.+ Christ suffered.+ Christ was crucified.+ Christ died.+ Christ rose from the dead.+ Christ ascended into Heaven.+ Christ conquers.+ Christ reigns.+ Christ commands.+

May Christ protect us from all storms and lightning. + Christ went through their midst in Peace, + and the Word was made Flesh.+ Christ is with us with Mary.+ Flee you enemy spirits because the Lion of the Generation of Juda, the Root David, has won.+ Holy God! + Holy Powerful God! + Holy Immortal God! + Have mercy on us. Amen.

In Poland, the candles brought from home to be blessed are decorated with symbols and ribbons. There, the custom is to let a blessed candle burn all night tonight before an icon of Our Lady who, when the world still had forests, was relied upon to keep the wolves away during these cold nights. Now, our “wolves” tend to be of a different sort, but the pious burning of a blessed candle tonight, with prayers offered to Our Lady, still might help keep them at bay. This tradition gives Candlemas its Polish name—“Matka Boska Gromniczna,” or “Mother of God of the Blessed Thunder Candle.”

In any case, when Candlemas is finished, all feelings of Christmas give way to the penitential feelings of Septuagesima and then Lent. The English poet, Robert Herrick (A.D. 1591-1674), sums it up in his poem “Ceremony Upon Candlemas Eve”—and reveals a folktale in the process:

Ceremony Upon Candlemas Eve

Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and misletoe ;
Down with the holly, ivy, all,
Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas Hall :
That so the superstitious find
No one least branch there left behind :
For look, how many leaves there be
Neglected, there (maids, trust to me)
So many goblins you shall see.

This very ancient carol also speaks of the departure of Christmas on this day. It is called “I Am Christmas,” and was written by James Ryman, a Franciscan Friar, ca. 1492. Note that the reference to Hallowtide (the days of the dead centering around All Saints Day) here refers to the fact that it was during Hallowtide that monarchs used to announce where they would be spending Christmas.

I Am Christmas

Here have I dwelled with more or lass
From Hallowtide till Candelmas,
And now must I from you hens pass;
Now have good day.

I take my leve of king and knight,
And erl, baron, and lady bright;
To wilderness I must me dight;
Now have good day!

And at the good lord of this hall
I take my leve, and of gestes all;
Me think I here Lent doth call;
Now have good day!

And at every worthy officere,
Marshall, panter, and butlere
I take my leve as for this yere;
Now have good day!

Another yere I trust I shall
Make mery in this hall,
If rest and peace in England fall;
Now have good day!

But oftentimes I have herd say
That he is loth to part away
That often biddeth ‘Have good day!”;
Now have good day!

Now fare ye well, all in fere,
Now fare ye well for all this yere;
Yet for my sake make ye good chere;
Now have good day!

And with that, another Christmas has come and gone. Tonight, I will put Candlemas candles in the Advent wreath and the family will pray together. After that, we put away the Nativity set and the Advent wreath until December. February 5 is the midpoint of winter and the solemnity of the Annunciation is only seven weeks away.

On this day I also think of my Dad, who would have been 82 today and nearing the end of his days in any case. He has been gone for almost 25 years.

Lead Kindly Light –

The movie is far from perfect, there is no convincing consideration about how God operates in the universe besides one throwaway scene. However, the emptiness of unlimited, no consequences hedonism is shown in a way that few other works capture so well. The transition from the giddiness of “no rules” to the emptiness of “no point” to the redemption of “do good” is profound. The only dishonest part of this character arc is his not further contemplating God, but that is a bias of our secular world.