Saint Frances Cabrini Parish

Father Kleppner - February 4, 2007
I thought the following from Gerald Korson, editor of Our Sunday Visitor might shed some light on some of the feast days we celebrated this past week, namely, Candlemas Day, the feast of St. Blaise, and even Groundhog Day which has religious roots.
Don’t let Candlemas stand in the shadow of the groundhog
The second of February marks two popular observances in the Catholic Church – the feast of St. Blaise and the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
The Presentation of the Lord is the day written of in Scripture (Lk 2:22-38) when Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the temple for the first time. In keeping with Jewish law, they consecrated him to the Lord and offered a sacrifice of two turtledoves or pigeons. The devout Simeon and the prophetess Anna immediately recognized Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.
The Holy Family’s visit to the temple had a dual purpose. Eastern Catholic traditions call February 2 the feast of the Purification of the Virgin – placing the focus instead on the ritual purification required of a Jewish woman who had birthed a male child. The new mother was considered “unclean” for a week after the birth and had to wait 33 days more to be ceremoniously “purified.”
The date goes by still another name: Candlemas. Long ago, the Roman Missal called for priests to bless the candles they would use in the coming year. In some traditions, the faithful brought wax candles from home to be blessed; in others, the pastor distributed candles to their homes to help light their way through the midwinter darkness.
Although that practice has pretty much died out, candles remain associated with February 2 through St. Blaise, a fourth-century bishop whose primary claim to fame was that he once saved the life of a child who was choking on a fish bone-many centuries before the Heimlich Maneuver was developed.
St. Blaise is thus known as the patron for protection against throat disorders. So, on February 2, many parishes ask his intercession and offer the faithful a “blessing of throats” using candles held in the pattern of a cross.
For the American public as a whole, however, the religious significance of February 2 may take a back seat to another popular tradition – Groundhog Day. According to legend, the groundhog emerges from his underground burrow on this day for a weather forecast: If he sees his shadow, there’ll be six more weeks of winter ahead.
On February 2, in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pa. (where the U.S. tradition began), well-dressed gents in top hats and a designated groundhog carry out an elaborate ritual that makes a quaint story on every evening newscast across the country.
Who makes this stuff up?
It turns out that even Groundhog Day is linked to Candlemas. The Delaware Indians who roamed modern-day western Pennsylvania considered groundhogs their ancestors (including a furry patriarch by the name of “Wojak,” from which our English term “woodchuck” derives). German settlers to the area brought an older Christian farmers’ tradition that if the sun came out on Candlemas – the approximate midpoint of the winter season – it served as an ironic omen that wintry weather would continue for the duration.
Back in Germany, it was badgers that the farmers would observe for shadows. But any hibernating animal would do just as well – in some countries, bears were the beast of choice – so when the Germans set up shop in Pennsylvania Dutch country, their tradition was conflated with the Indians, and the local groundhog got the nod.
That’s not to say we should rely on groundhogs for our long-range meteorological forecast, but those enchanted by the whole Punxsutawney ritual might use it to recall and reflect upon the religious significance of February 2.

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