Candlemas.

[curiouswombat]

Today is Candlemas - and there is, of course, a dance for it -

Candlemas is the last day in the season of Christmas and is traditionally, in some places, when you took down the last of the Christmas decorations. It was also the day that you took your candles to church to be blessed for the year ahead - they were then to be a reminder of Christ

Comments

[pondhopper]

What a lovely happy dance! But it was windy last year which was better than stormy. Today for Candlemas, parents took their children born during the past year to be blessed at their parishes and to be presented to our Lady and ask for her protection. And also candles are taken for blessing as well.

[curiouswombat]

Today for Candlemas, parents took their children born during the past year to be blessed at their parishes and to be presented to our Lady and ask for her protection.

What a lovely tradition.

I have just been messaging Jo and she tells me that, this year, they held the Candlemas Service of Light inside the church :)

[reapermum]

We had the blessing of everyone baptised in the last twelve months a couple of weeks ago on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

[curiouswombat]

That's lovely.

[adafrog]

Cool.

[curiouswombat]

Thank you!

[elwenlj]

I love that your island has retained so many traditions that have been lost on the mainland.

[curiouswombat]

It has been a conscious effort to do so - the loss of Manx identity was seen as a possibility back in the 1880s and the beginnings of Manx National Heritage dates back to there.

Such things as setting up the Manx Museum gave a lot of individuals and small groups a sense that not only was tradition important, but making sure that things were remembered was not 'weird' or pointless, and could be both interesting and fun.

[cairistiona7]

Thank you for explaining Candlemas. This year is the first I've heard of it--my religious background isn't with any sort of liturgical church, so learning about things like this is interesting.

[curiouswombat]

Our church is fairly non-liturgical - Candlemas is not something we celebrate (basically we do Easter and Christmas!), but in the past it was an important 'marker' day in island life.

Although anyone, having celebrated Candlemas at their village church yesterday, might have thought twice about ploughing if their weather on the Monday was anything like ours today!

My friend Jo is an Anglican priest - they are definitely a liturgical church :)

[slaymesoftly]

That's fascinating. I loved the little tune and the dance! Congrats to your friend. I also have a friend who just recently was ordained. Your island is such a wonderful place.

[curiouswombat]

Thank you. Jo is, I'm told, 'a lovely vicar'. I wouldn't expect anything else, to be honest!

Your island is such a wonderful place.

It is not perfect, people still find plenty to moan about; cost of the boat fare, state of the roads, the new energy saving lights on Douglas promenade, the waiting list for NHS non-urgent surgery... all the usual sort of stuff.

But it is so much better than so many other places - and we may complain that our politicians are incompetent sometimes, but at least they are all rational adults...

[slaymesoftly]

Ah, rational adults - what a concept!