CANDLEMAS, in its ecclesiastical meaning, is the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary, and is observed on the 2d of February. This festival is very strictly kept by the Roman Catholic church, there being a procession with many lighted candles, and those required for the service of the ensuing year being also on that occasion con secrated; hence the name Candlemas day. In Scotland, this day is one of the four term-days appointed for periodical annual payments of money, interest, taxes, etc., and of entry to premises—the three other term-days there being Whitsunday, Lammas, and Martinmas. See TERM.
An old document of the time of henry VIII., preserved in the archives of the society of antiquaries, London, concerning the rites and ceremonies in the English church, speaks thus of the custom of carrying candles: "On Candlemas daye it shall be declared that the bearyinge of candles is done in the memoric of Christe, the spirit ual) lyglite whom Simeon dyd prophecye ['a light to lighten the Gentiles'], as it is redde in the douche that daye." But an older and heathen origin is ascribed to the
practice. The Romans were in the habit of burning candles on this day to the goddess Februa, the mother of Mars; and pope Sergius, seeing it would be useless to prohibit a practice of so long standing, turned it to Christian account by enjoining a similar offer ing of candles to the Virgin. The candles were supposed to have the effect of frighten ing the devil and all evil spirits away from the persons who carried them, or from the houses in which they were placed. An order of council in 1584 prohibited the cere mony in England. There is a tradition in most parts of Europe to the effect that a fine C. portends a severe winter. In Scotland, the prognostication is expressed in the fol lowing distich: "If Candlemas is fair and clear, There 11 be twa winters in the year." Christ's presentation, the holiday of St. Simeon, and, in the n. of England, the wive's feast-day, were names given to Candlemas day. See Brand's Popular Antiquities, Bohn's edition.