Definition of Candlemas in English:

noun

• A Christian festival held on 2 February to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary (after childbirth, according to Jewish law) and the presentation of Christ in the Temple. Candles were traditionally blessed at this festival.

  Example sentences

  • ‘What I never knew until now is that February 3, the day after Candlemas, is the Feast of St Blaise, the patron saint of wool combers.’
  • ‘On the Roman Catholic feast day called Candlemas, all the ceremonial candles are blessed.’
  • ‘They resumed on Candlemas, and concluded with a masque presented before the Queen at Whitehall at Shrovetide.’
  • ‘On Candlemas pupils also paid a gratuity or ‘bleeze’ to their schoolmaster.’
  • ‘The theme of misrule in Twelfth Night was apt for the Candlemas performance.’
  • ‘Today modern neopagans either celebrate it on the 1st or 2nd, the 2nd being more popular in America, perhaps because of a confusion with Candlemas.’
  • ‘The Candlemas collection will take place on Saturday and Sunday, February 2 and 3, in St Manman's Church.’
  • ‘The person finding the small china doll or bean becomes King or Queen for the meal, but that person is also obligated to host a party or supper on Candlemas, February 2.’
  • ‘These days, the equivalent dates in Scotland are Martinmas, Candlemas, Whitsunday and Lammas.’
  • ‘Inclusion of the candle thus marks Mary's Christianization of the Jewish purification ritual, and fifteenth century women, imitating her example, offered a candle blessed at Candlemas during their churchings.’
  • ‘It was said that if the weather was fair on the mid-winter feast day of Candlemas then winter would return in force.’
  • ‘At a meeting in September the Privy Council set the date: February 7th, a Thursday, during the week following the important festival of Candlemas, when Charles I himself had been crowned.’
  • ‘The Middle Temple Hall, for example, saw in 2004 a performance of Twelfth Night on February 2nd, as it did on Candlemas 1602.’
  • ‘Saturday, February 1, is the feast of St. Brigid; Sunday, 2nd, is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord also known as Candlemas - the traditional day to bless candles donated by people for church use throughout the year.’
  • ‘The mother, usually veiled, carried the candle blessed at Candlemas and waited penitently for the priest at the vestibule of the church with her husband and female companions.’
  • ‘Mr Allen's sermon was on the feast of Candlemas, which fell on Sunday.’
  • ‘This day, which as a child, I called Candlemas, was a religious holiday dedicated to a well-connected infant.’
  • ‘During Candlemas ceremonies, church-goers bring candles to church, where the flame is blessed and represents good will and luck in the coming year.’
  • ‘One which scarcely survived into modern times was evidently important enough in the Middle Ages to have earned the suffix mas, along with Michaelmas, Hallowmas, Christmas and Candlemas.’
  • ‘She has been gone for four months, since Candlemas.’