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This is no ordinary Tuesday, folks. Today is: (check which ones you know)

  • The Feast of the Presentation 
  • Forty days after Christmas
  • Midway between the winter solstice and spring equinox 
  • Candlemas Day 
  • The Feast of St. Brigid 
  • Groundhog Day 

My guess is that Groundhog Day will gather the most checks. Punxsutawny Phil’s prognostications are legendary and have their root in medieval lore: "If Candlemas Day be fair and bright / Winter will have another fight/ If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, /Winter will not come again.” Transplanted to Pennsylvania by the Germans who settled there, Groundhog Day is a bright spot in the drear of winter

In a year made more drear by Covid isolation and worry, this has become "the winter of our discontent.” Today we get to turn the corner toward Spring, always an event to celebrate, though this year, arguably, more so than most. Whatever the coming of Spring heralds for you, today is the day to mark that it is measurably closer. Daylight hours are lengthening and while the cold may still win some battles, the war will be won by warmth. 

Ever notice how closely Christian holidays match the seasons? The early church mapped out much of their celebrations onto existing pagan holidays that were largely based on the cycles of nature. Thus, we have Christmas near the winter solstice and end up with the Feast of the Presentation on this winter cross-quarter day because it falls forty days after Christmas. "When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22). Luke's story of Mary and Joseph bringing the Christ Child to the temple is worthy of reading anew and introduces two of my favorite characters, Simeon and Anna, wise and faithful elders. 

And the name Candlemas? One of the earliest Christian feasts, The Presentation, quickly became associated with light because that was when the Christ Child was recognized by Simeon as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel" (Luke 2:32). By the 5th century, the custom had developed of lighting candles on this day. In some places, the faithful processed with lit candles in the pre-dawn darkness before Mass which created the name Candlemas. The practice remains to bless candles on this day in church or at home. 

in pre-Christian Celtic lands, this day honored Brigid who was the bringer of the dawn, of healing and fertility. Her Feast Day is Feb 2, also known as Imbolc. She was later replaced by the Christian St. Brigid and celebrations merged to revel in hearth and home, coming warmth, light. The tradition developed to let the turf fire die out, clean the hearth, sweep the home, and trim the wicks. Rushes were gathered and woven into St. Brigid’s cross to bless the home. 

So, your choice... You can celebrate the Feast of the Presentation, the coming Spring, Groundhog Day, the Feast of St. Brigid—any or all!

  • Read the story of the Presentation, Luke 2:22-38. Notice a detail that speaks to you. Pray and ponder what meaning it holds
  • Clean house – a modern version of sweeping the hearth and early spring cleaning. Put away winter decorations and bring in signs of spring
  • Make a candle rolled from a sheet of beeswax. beeswax candle 
  • Make some popcorn and watch Groundhog Day on TV tonight
  • Start some seeds to plant in the spring; plan your garden.
  • Give the gift of a candle to someone special in your life
  • Have crepes or tamales, foods traditional in France and Mexico on this day - each resembles an infant wrapped up to be taken to the temple.
  • Choose a special candle and bless it to use at family celebrations (see below)

Shabbat Candle Prayer

Where the world is dark with illness let me kindle the light of healing. Where the world is dark with hatred let me kindle the light of love. Where the world is bleak with suffering let me kindle the light of caring. Where the world is dimmed by lies let me kindle the light of truth.