Talk:Candlemas

"Candlemas"

While the RC church is not the whole of Christianity, it is a large part of it. And in the RC church, the word 'Candlemas' is obsolete. Using this word as the title and main heading for this liturgical celebration is unhelpful for general readers. It is also not a "holiday" but a feast or liturgical commemoration. It might be a holiday in some places, but that is not the right word for it. Notice this Wiki page, which refers to it first as Feast of the Presentation - Feb 2 - Holidays and observances --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 16:29, 29 January 2017 (UTC)

• There is already a page for Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Mannanan51 (talk) 23:44, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

Yes, good catch. I see that the other article is about the biblical event, and this one about the feast. I still think the name of this article should be changed to represent what it is actually called. --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 20:47, 15 August 2017 (UTC)

"traditionally the 40th day"

Feb 2 is the actual 40th day after Christmas. In what sense is it "traditionally the 40th day of the Christmas-Epiphany season"? The "40" is not magic - it comes from the Jewish practice, at least as represented in Luke's gospel. Does this mean "traditionally it closes the Christmas-Epiphany season"? And where does "Christmas-Epiphany season" come from rather than "Christmas season" or "Epiphanytide"?--Richardson mcphillips (talk) 16:33, 29 January 2017 (UTC)

Saying

Is there not a saying "Candlemas Day is you be clear, Thou shalt betide a Happy Year?" This could be mentioned in the article somewhere. Vorbee (talk) 09:03, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

The saying is more a weather prediction, and is the forerunner of groundhog day.

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright

Winter will have another fight,

If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain

Winter won't come again.

This has some truth for western Europe as a stable anticyclone gives clear cold weather, but low pressure systems bring warmer, wetter weather from the Atlantic. MidlandLinda (talk) 14:42, 3 February 2019 (UTC)

How The Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas) falls in liturgical calendars

"Candlemas feast transfers to February 3 if February 2 is a pre-Lenten Sunday, but the blessing of candles still takes place on February 2. Candlemas never falls in Lent (this also applies to the ordinary-form calendar), because the earliest possible Ash Wednesday is February 4."

I am assuming that this paragraph refers to the Latin-Rite Catholic liturgical calendar, which has not had "Pre-Lenten" Sundays for over 50 years. When February 2 is Sunday (dominical letter E, as in 2020), the Presentation takes precedence over the Sunday (Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time), but otherwise it is celebrated on February 2, regardless of the day of the week, and is never transferred to February 3. Exsult1 (talk) 18:29, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

I agree with Exsult1. The text is uncited but from the Catholic Encylopedia in the public domain. It's not clear what calendar it refers to because it is absent in both current calendars of the Roman Rite Catholic Church in the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form.

The transfer may have been abrogated by the liturgical calendar reforms of Pope Pius XII (although Pope Pius X, Pope Benedict XV, and Pope Pius XI also modified the calendar). Since no current group of Christians is using the calender with the transfer, I am deleting the text. If can be precisely determined when it was in effect, that would be of interest to me and to students of the calendar. patsw (talk) 18:25, 2 February 2020 (UTC)