CANDLEMAS (Engl. candle + mass). lit its ecclesiastical meaning, the feast of the puri fication of the Virgin Nary. observed on the second of February. This festival is very strict ly kept by the 'Roman Catholic Church, there being a procession with many lighted candles, and those required for the service of the ensu ing year being also on that occasion consecrat ed: hence the name Candlemas Day. In Scot land this day is one of the four term days ap pointed 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 Anti quaries, London, concerning the rites and cere monies in the English Church, speaks thus of the custom of carrying candles: "On Candlemas Jaye it shall be declared that the bearyinge of candles is done in the memorie of Christe, the :spiritual] lyghte whom Simeon dyd prophecye ['a light to lighten the Gentiles'], as it is redde in the Aurae 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 use less to prohibit a practice of so long standing, turned it to Christian account by enjoining a similar offering of candles to the Virgin. The candles were supposed to have the effect of frightening 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 15S4 prohibited the ceremony in England. There is a tradition in most parts of Europe to the effect that a fine Candlemas por tends a severe winter. In Scotland the prognos tication is expressed in the following distich: "If Candlemas is fair and clear.
There 'II be twa. winters in the year." Christ's Presentation, the Holiday of Saint Simeon. and, in the north of England, the Wives' Feast Day, were names given to Candle mas Day. Consult Brand, Popular Antiquities, Bohn's edition (London, 1549).