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Monday, June 14
An Interesting Folkloric Fossil
I am told, in the late Middle Ages, that the candles used in the Candlemas procession were often taken home afterwards by the laity and used as a powerful sacramental. Indeed, just as church bells were rung during thunderstorms to ward off lighting strikes (the bells are blessed after all), the Candlemas candles were lit on similar occasions. (I attended the Candlemas procession at Kenrick-Glennon and kept my candle stub in case of just such eventuality, by the way, though come the first thunderstorm of the year I forgot to do anything about it.) Indeed, in Poland, there is a devotion, I think, to Our Lady of the Blessed Thunder Candle, that arose from this practice (though she is also shown with a wolf at her feet. I haven't a clue what's up with that). What I thought was particularly interesting was when I mentioned some of these customs to my dad, he said his late mother (Irish-American Catholic) had sometimes lit candles during thunderstorms, and not necessarily because of a power failure, though not for any discernable sacramental reason, either. Presumably the practice must have survived in some highly distented, habitual way in some places, even if devoid of its original significance. Or maybe she was just readying herself for the power to go out.
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ReplyDeleteHi Matthew,
ReplyDeleteIn Poland, the tradition was to bring the candles from Candlemas home, decorate them and let it burn all night before an icon of Our Lady. In Poland where they had long nights and dark forests, Mary was relied upon to keep the wolves away.
This is certainly a tradition that persists in rural America. When I was a kid and storms threatened, we lit Candlemas candles.
ReplyDeleteI moved to a different rural area a few years ago, and the tradition here is that during severe storms, one burns palm branches. That's a new one for me!
I remember my mother lighting a candle in the window during a storm once, so that anyone who was stuck out might see the house and know we were home. And indeed, someone who had been out for a run (this was an Army base, after all) came in and sat it out with us. I only remember her doing this once, which could be because we only "caught" someone once or for some other reason; my memory of this is really vague.
ReplyDeleteIf Henryk Sienkiewicz is to be believed, wolves were indeed a serious danger in most parts of Poland for quite some time. So I'm not surprised that a Marian devotion would focus on protection against that particular threat.
ReplyDeleteBurning a bit of the blessed palm you brought home on palm Sunday was a custom in Louisiana when I was a child. But I think it's of German rather than French origin.
ReplyDeleteSame thing here, to my knowledge. Visiting my paternal grandparents as a child in Central Florida, I was struck how most of the crucifxes in the house had palm branches stuck behind them, often quite dessicated.
ReplyDeleteI have a stash of Candlemas candles at the Abbey, a habit first acquired as and Anglo-Catholic.
ReplyDeleteThe old prayers for the day said they were "for the service of men and the health of their bodies and souls, whether on land or on sea.”
There's a bit more here, including a poem on lighting blessed candles:
http://subtuum.blogspot.com/2010/02/candlemas-re-enchanting-culture.html
Plea to Saint Barbara for protection from thunderstorms chanted by our family in Calabrian dialect:
ReplyDeleteSanta Barbara non rumbati
Ca li porti sunnu apierti,
Li candili su'addumati
Santa Barbara non rumbati.
Saint Barbara stop the thunder
Because the doors are open
The candles are lit
Saint Barbara stop the thunder.
I can second the Louisiana practice of using blessed palms to ward off storms. My wife's family practices this. A unically New Orleans custom is to keep blessed cookies from the St. Joseph's altars in the freezer for the same purpose.
ReplyDeleteMy Mexican family comes from the desert, so their customs more centered on bringing storms in, not conjuring them away.
I've always found it telling there's a patron saint for bringing rain (St Swithun) but not one for turning the darn stuff off.
ReplyDeleteI live in Brazil and we still have the custom of lighting a blessed candle and burning a piece of blessed palm during storms.
ReplyDeleteMy Polish grandmother (and mother) also did the same to protect against thunderstorms, in addition to hanging the herbs and flowers blessed on Assumption in the attic. I remember as a child, going up to the (very scary) attic and seeing bunches of parsley hanging from the rafters. Side note: these herbs were also used in cooking!
ReplyDeleteIn non-Christian contexts this is known as apotropaic magic. Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteMy dad seems to have independantly revived part of the practice or some variation on it by taking home the Easter fire in a lantern and keeping it burning at home in various candles for the octave.
ReplyDelete