Today is Candlemas Day, more commonly known these days as Groundhog Day. February 2nd is the midpoint of winter, halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Celebrations on this day have been around for centuries. Pagans celebrated the Festival of Lights on this date. Romans lighted candles to scare away evil spirits in the winter. Christians bless the candles that are used throughout the coming year, the Candle Mass.
The Groundhog Day tradition comes from the Germans. “The badger (now morphed to groundhog) peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day, and, if he finds snow, walks abroad; but if he sees the sun shining, he draws back into his hole.” There are other Candlemas day proverbs: “A farmer should, on Candlemas Day, Have half his corn and half his hay.” And various superstitions: “Any Christmas decorations not taken down by Twelfth Night (January 5th) should be left up until Candlemas Day and then taken down.” Guess I better get busy doing that.
Growing up as a child, we had our own family tradition on Candlemas Day. My mother baked muffins–not for breakfast but for supper. She put a dried bean in one of them. Beans were easy to find in our house because I grew up in Maine and Saturday night baked beans were a tradition on more weekends than not. Anticipation reached a fever pitch as Mum piled the muffins on a plate and delivered them to the table. The person who got the muffin with the bean in it had good luck all year. As you can imagine, even though there were only four of us (Mum, Dad, my brother and me), a dozen muffins were devoured by the end of the meal.
I continued the tradition after I married, first just my husband and me, then with the kids as they came along. They are all grown now, with families of their own. I still send them a reminder E-mail every year to make the lucky muffins.
You can find Judi at http://www.judiphillips.com/
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and her books here http://whispershome.com/authors/pepper-goodrich/
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Judi/Pepper
