February 2nd – Candlemas Day (Día de La Candelaria)  

The Día de La Candelaria (Candlemas Day) is a Mexican cultural, not statutory, holiday.  Employees do not receive a day off (with or without pay).  Banks, schools, government offices, and most businesses are open as usual.  

In Mexico, the Día de La Candelaria is celebrated with tamales.  Tradition indicates that on January 6th, the Day of the Magi Kings (the Epiphany, a festival celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi and their gifts to the Christ Child) that whoever gets one or more of the plastic or metal dolls (originally coins) buried within the Rosca de Reyes (King's) bread must hoast a party with tamales on Candlemas Day.

The Origins of Candlemas Day (Día de La Candelaria)
This ancient festival marks the midpoint of winter as it is halfway between the winter solstice with the shortest day of the year and winter solstice with longest day of the year.  In pre-Christian times this day was celebrated as a Feast of Lights.  (The probable reason that in Mexico tamales are eaten on this day.)

Like other holidays that Christians altered by giving pagan festivals Christian significance, the lighting of candles on Candlemas Day represents the light that Jesus Christ brought to the world.  (In much the same way that old pagan fertility celebrations were altered to celebrate how the resurrection of Jesus made possible a new life after death for all mankind and pagan winter solstice celebrations--such as the Roman Saturnalia--that occurred when night gave way to day were altered to celebrate the birth of Jesus.)

Candlemas Day (Día de La Candelaria) is also known as the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple and the Purification of the Virgin is a feast day celebrated on February 2nd commemorating the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple and the purification of the Virgin Mary.  According to Jewish tradition this was to occur 40 days after giving birth, hence the date of February 2nd for Candlemas.  (Which, of course, assumes Jesus was born on December 25th.  Something that, as an armchair historian, I dispute, but that is a subject for a different time.)

Another custom in areas of Mexico where traditions run strong, is for families to own an image of the Christ child, a niño Dios.  At times a godparent is chosen for the niño Dios, who is then responsible for hosting various celebrations between Christmas and Candlemas. First, on Christmas Eve the niño Dios is placed in the Nativity scene, on January 6th, The Day of the Magi Kings, the niño Dios is brought presents from the Magi, and on February 2nd, Candlemas Day, the niño Dios is dressed in fine clothes and presented in the church.  

In addition to a mass blessing seeds and candles, in Mexico the Día a de la Candelaría is celebrated with processions, dancing, as well as bullfights in certain cities. The festivities are best seen in: Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, San Juan de los Lagos, Jalapa; Talpa de Allende, Jalisco; and Santa Maria del Tuxla, and Oaxaca.

Following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the title Candlemas (Día a de la Candelaría) for the feast has been suppressed in favor of the Presentation of the Lord with references to candles and the purification of Mary de-emphasized in favor of the Prophecy of Simeon. (Simeon and Anna were an elderly couple who served in the temple and had been promised they would not die until they had seen the Messiah. When they saw the baby Jesus they testified he was the promised Messiah.) However, in Mexico the holiday is still commonly called the Día a de la Candelaría.

The term “Candlemas” refers to the practice whereby a priest on February 2nd would bless the candles for use during the year (the candles must be of beeswax). This practice has fallen out of favor in many places.

Candlemas also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc (also Imbolg or Oimelc), or St Brigid's Day (Scots Gaelic Là Fhèill Brìghde, Irish Lá Fhéile Bríde, the feast day of St. Brigid), an Irish festival marking the beginning of Spring. Imbolc is the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is most commonly celebrated on February 1st or 2nd (or February 12th, according to the Old Calendar), which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere.

Sailors are often reluctant to set sail on Candlemas Day, believing that any voyage begun then will end in disaster. Given the frequency of severe storms in February, this is a somewhat understandable superstition

In some countries, including the United States, February 2nd is celebrated as Groundhog Day.  According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly "see its shadow" causing it to retreat back into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.

The origin of the customs surrounding Groundhog Day is disputed.  One theory states that because in western countries in the Northern Hemisphere the official first day of Spring is almost seven weeks (46–48 days) after Groundhog Day, on March 20th or March 21st.  About 1,000 years ago, before the adoption of the Gregorian when the date of the equinox drifted in the Julian calendar, the spring equinox fell on March 16 instead.  This is exactly six weeks after February 2nd.  The custom could have been a folk embodiment of the confusion created by the collision of two calendrical systems.  Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night. Other traditions held that Spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox.  So an arbiter, the groundhog/hedgehog, was incorporated as a yearly custom to settle the two traditions.  Sometimes Spring begins at Imbolc, and sometimes Winter lasts 6 more weeks until the equinox.

Groundhog day is an  example of how people came to believe that weather at the midpoint the between the solstices served as a weather forecast.  A bright, sunny day meant there is more winter to come, whereas a cloudy, wet, stormy day means the worst of the winter is over as reflected in the following.  

Candlemas Proverbs:
If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won't come again.

A farmer should, on Candlemas Day
Have half his corn and half his hay.

On Candlemas Day if the thorns hand adrop
You can be sure of a good pea crop.

The badge peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day,
and, if he finds snow, walks abroad;  
but if he sees he sees chining he draws back into his hole.
(In American the badger is replaced by the groundhog/woodchuck.)

The old tradition (superstition) to avoid bad luck was any Christmas decorations not taken down by the Twelfth Night of Christmas (January 5th) should be left up and taken down on Candlemas Day.

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I will be joining a family and their friends to celebrate the Día de La Candelaria holiday.  It's something I'm looking forward to.   Good food, plenty of conversation--and two cute civilian senoritas that I want to get to know better.