Writing Tips        Vikings        Medieval History        Ancient Rome        Architecture        Old West        Travel        Vocabulary         

Research - Holidays/Festivals - Candlemas (Feb 2)

Candlemas:


Candlemas, a holiday that originated in the 4th century, was celebrated 40 days after Christmas (or Epiphany) - on February 2nd. On this day were big feasts and the church candles were blessed for the coming year (thus the name, Candlemas). People burned holiday greenery (leftover yule logs, etc) so the ashes could be used as fertilizer for the prepping of the fields. The burning of greenery and candles was symbolic of the coming light of Spring and regrowth/rebirth. The holiday also marked the start of the plowing of fields.

According to Churchyear.net,
"Thus if the sun cast a shadow on Candlemas day, more winter was on the way; if there was no shadow, winter was thought to be ending soon. This practice led to the folklore behind "Groundhog's Day," which falls on Candlemas Day."


For more info:
How Candlemas was celebrated in the Middle Ages

When Christians disposed of trees and holiday greenery

Celtic Music Guide

There's nothing more fun that sitting in a quaint pub drinking Guinness and listening to some Celtic music.

This easy-to-navigate, simple site from Ceolas offers a nice list of concerts, events for enjoying Celtic music by region.

Click here for North American listing:
Ceolas.Org

They also offer Ireland, Europe and other locations.

Winter Blues - Everything is Frozen

Snow storms have swept across this country the past week, which aren't too unusual for winter. But what is unusual are the ice and snow storms in normally warmer areas, such as southern Texas anbd Arizona. Even in Dallas we saw a week of below-freezing temperatures.

Amazingly, the last time Dallas experienced record cold temperatures was back in 1996 when it was only 8 degrees. Yuk!

Acording to the Dallas Weather Examiner, the record temperatures that have been reported are as follows:

FEBRUARY 2: 7 (1985)

FEBRUARY 3: 14 (1996, 1985, 1905)

FEBRUARY 4: 8 (1996)

Ever seen a frozen waterfall? Here's a picture of my pool's waterfall:


Here are some other frozen fountains I found on the internet. Beautiful!