Have you heard of... CANDLEMASS?

 

Yes Candlemass. We all know that Christmas is the Feast Day of Christ. Is Candlemass the Feast Day of candles?!

 

Candlemass day is the 2nd February, the day on which the Church celebrates "The Presentation of Christ in the Temple".

 

We have to remember that Jesus was born a Jew. In Jewish religion, the firstborn in any family was said to belong to God and had to be "redeemed" (dedicated back to God), and the Jewish Law required that the child be presented in the Temple forty days after his birth. That ceremony of the redemption of the firstborn is still performed in Jewish synagogues today. We can read about Joseph and Mary taking baby Jesus for this ceremony in St. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 2, verses 22-40. See if you can find it.

 

On that day, we read, there was in the Temple a very old man called Simeon, who so longed to see the coming of the promised Messiah that he had been assured that he would not die until it had happened. He saw the little family come in - as he had seen hundreds of other parents and their babies - and he knew immediately that at last this baby, Jesus, was the Christ child, the One for whom he had been waiting so long!

 

He gave heartfelt thanks to God and said, "Now, Lord, let me die in peace, for I have seen the Saviour you have sent." We never forget Simeon and his recognition of Christ. We repeat his words in the Service of Evening Prayer. See if you can find them in the Prayer Book, under the heading, "Nunc Dimittis."

 

Yes, but why Candlemass? What has all this to do with candles?

 

The Church services celebrating this day were known (before the days of modern lighting) for using masses of candles to fill the church with light. The two names for the Feast were both a bit of a mouthful - "The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary" and "The Presentation of Christ in the Temple" -people liked to think of it more comfortably as "the candles Feast Day", i.e. "Candlemass" - much easier!

 

Various traditions arose relating to Candlemass. In many churches on that day beeswax candles are blessed, distributed and lit while the "Nunc Dimittis" is being sung. Some churches hold their Christingle on Candlemas Day.

 

And I heard only recently of an old superstition: that if you do not take down all your Christmas decorations on Twelfth Night (January 6th) anything you have missed should be left up until Candlemass Day!

 

A final note - about the candle. Its light can be a good reminder to us that Jesus, speaking of Himself after he began to teach his followers, said, "I AM the Light of the World".