Candlemas

Candlemas is the last festival in the Christian year that is dated by reference to Christmas; subsequent holidays are calculated with reference to Easter, so Candlemas marks the end of the Christmas and Epiphany season.

Date

Candlemas is observed on February 2nd; in those Eastern churches that have kept the Julian Calendar, this comes out as February 15th of the modern calendar. Its formal name is either the festival of the Purification of the Virgin (especially in the uniate rites of the Roman Catholic Church), or the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (especially in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church). In the Orthodox Church it is known as The Feast of the Presentation of our Lord and Savior in the Temple, and in Anglican Churches it is known by various names, including The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in The Temple (ECUSA), The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Anglican Church of Canada), and The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Church of England and Anglican Church of Australia).

Related Topics:
February 2 - Julian Calendar - February 15 - Uniate - Roman Catholic - Latin Rite - Orthodox Church - Anglican - ECUSA - Anglican Church of Canada - Church of England - Anglican Church of Australia

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The date of Candlemas is established by the date set for the Nativity of Jesus, for it comes 40 days afterwards. Under Mosaic law, a mother who had given birth to a man-child was considered unclean for seven days; moreover she was to remain for three and thirty days "in the blood of her purification."

Related Topics:
Jesus - Mosaic law

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Candlemas therefore corresponds to the day on which Mary, according to Jewish law (see :2 - 8), should have attended a ceremony of ritual purification. The gospel of :22-39 relates that Mary was purified according to the religious law, followed by Jesus' presentation in the Jerusalem temple, and this explains the formal names given to the festival.

Related Topics:
Mary - Ritual purification - Jerusalem

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In the West, the date of Christmas is now fixed at December 25, and Candlemas therefore falls the following February 2. The dating is identical among Orthodox Christians, except that the ecclesiastic December 25th of most Orthodox Christians falls on January 6th of the civil calendar due to a theological dispute related to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, meaning that most Orthodox Christians celebrate the feast on February 14th.

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In the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Feast, called "The Coming of the Son of God into the Temple", is also celebrated on February 14.

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