Since when did the joyous feast of Candlemas get hijacked by an overgrown rodent? Candlemas has long been a checkpoint for weather prognostication, without the assistance of some mammalian front squirrel:
If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another bite.
If Candlemas Day bring cloud and rain,
Winter’s gone and won’t come again.
Or this more northerly version:
If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,
The half o’ the winter’s to come and mair;
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,
The half o’ the winter’s gane at Yule.
And here’s a superstition that will probably baffle great numbers of people:
Any Christmas decorations not taken down by Twelfth Night (January 5th) should be left up until Candlemas Day and then taken down.
Obviously, this applies to people who put up their Christmas decorations on Christmas Eve, or at least closer to the beginning of the season of Christmas, rather than immediately after Thanksgiving (before Advent has even begun!).
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