#59: Candlemas

Turning the page to February.

Today I turn the calendar page to February and see an image of catkins, swelling buds, and early leafing on the near to bare limbs of a tree. A few days earlier my own flowering currant near the cottage begins to bud. Today it has leaves, too. The wheel is turning and Spring is near.

Early leaves and bud of my flowering currant

Tomorrow is Candlemas. I pull a book¹ down from the shelf and read an old children’s rhyme.

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright

Winter will take another flight.

If Candlemas Day be cloud and rain

Winter is gone and will not come again.

By 2nd of February, it says, one shouldn’t need to get up by candlelight. The last few mornings, I open the curtains of the east window that looks out to the sleeping vegetable garden, and find light earlier…no need to turn on the light in the kitchen when I set the kettle to boil for tea.

Candlemas Day stick beans in the clay

Throw candle and candlestick right away.

Candlemas when hibernating animals, like the groundhog, awaken. If they see no shadow when they come out to frighten them back to their slumbers below, an early spring is to come. We shall see if tomorrow’s forecast for cloud cover proves this true. An early spring would be nice.

But tonight I will set a fire, light a candle, eat a bowl of soup by its light, and enjoy the stillness of winter for one more night.

Catkins and swelling bud of my twisted hazlenut tree also known as contorted filbert

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1. Festivals, Family and Food by Diana Carey and Judy Large (Hawthorne Press 1982)