The largest gift of February, however, is its ability to help us rededicate ourselves through the fires of purification as a path of opening for the returning sun.
64lbs of costly candle wax was allocated to the #ClareCastle chapel for the feast of #Candlemas, a favourite of the #LadyOfClare, when light blazed in midwinter & candles were brought to be blessed.
She would have been familiar with this #CanterburyCathedral window depicting the Presentation of Christ in the Temple - very tall candles here!
#Christmas vs #Yuletide
Many (most?) people who celebrate the third week of December with masses of food & presents are in fact celebrating Yuletide or #Chanukah rather than the birth of Christ.
Does anyone else think it is time to hive off Yuletide? - for one thing, the celebration of Christmas rightly begins on Christmas Eve after a month of fasting during Advent, and only ends on February 2nd with #Candlemas. (Or, if you prefer, #Groundhog Day)