THE ORIGIN OF CANDLEMAS
Tho second day of February is the feast of the. Purification of the Virgin Alary, and it is still recognised as a holy dav 'of the Church of England. No one kno\vs why this particular day was selected. The reason is lost in the mists of antiquity. But there is an ingenious theory that since February, the twelfth month in the classic Roman Calendar, means the purifying month, we have here a conspicuous ease of a Pagan festival being adapted to a Christian use. The feature of the celebration of this feast in the Roman Catholic Church is the lighting of candles, so it became known by the name of, Candlemas. This practice refers to what Simeon said when lie took the infant Jesus in his arms, lie was to he “a light to lighten the Gentiles.” The Pope lights eanddles in his own private chapel on this day and distributes them to the cardinals.; Even in England the celebration of, Candlemas fell into disuse very gradually in English churches after the Reformation, and up till the end of the eighteenth century most English churches observed this custom.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM19290109.2.21
Bibliographic details
Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 9 January 1929, Page 3
Word Count
192THE ORIGIN OF CANDLEMAS Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 9 January 1929, Page 3
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Nelson Evening Mail. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in