Candlemas, or La Chandeleur as it is known in French-speaking Catholic communities, starts on the evening of February 1st into February 2nd. It commemorates Jesus's presentation at the Temple (Luke 2:22-40) as the Light of the World.
This time of year is full of light festivals all over the world. For Acadians, la Chandeleur is celebrated with the blessing of a candle at church at 8am, and bringing it home to in turn bless the home.
The blessed candle is kept at the parents' bedside, or on a tiny shelf in the kitchen. It would be lit during big storms, as a foil to lightning, during periods of illness, a hard childbirth, and when a death occurs in the house. When a priest would visit the house to provide communion to a sick parishioner, the candle would be lit and carried to guide the priest to the ailing person's bedside, and the same rite would apply to the final rites of a dying person. The flame remains lit during the wake. The candle is also lit during Marial devotions during the month of May. If healing is prayed for during a novena, it also doesn't hurt to light this candle.
Once those candles are blessed, the master of the home is to bring the lit candle to every corner of the house to bless it with its light. They would also bring this light to the barn and the fields for blessings. Many families boast of a special candle holder just for this candle.
On Prince Edward Island, pieces of this candle's wax were also brought aboard on fishing boats along with woven palm fronds, and were meant to keep the fisherman safe during storms at sea.
"Daignez bénir et sanctifier ces cierges pour notre usage, pour la santé des corps et des âmes, sur terre comme sur mer."
"May these candles be blessed and sanctified for our use, for the health of our bodies and souls, on land as on the sea."
It's also a crêpe-making day!!! On the eve of this holiday (Feb.1), families would make crêpes for dinner, often using the last of last year's flour. This stems from medieval France, when peasants would use the previous year's flour (most likely their only flour left) to ensure the next year's harvest would be bountiful. It is tradition in Acadie to have every member of the household flip their own crêpe, to determine if a successful flip would grant them luck for the year. Some families even kept a piece of the crêpe in their cupboard all year long to ward off bad luck.
1 cup of freshly fallen snow, compacted (nowadays, I wouldn't recommend it. Snow falls on the ground polluted. It used to be a common ingredient in Acadian and Quebecois cooking. You can skip it and the recipe would still turn out fine.)
Frying grease or vegetable shortening, or butter for the pan.
Serve with molasses or grated maple sugar.
It is also a time in Acadian villages where folks would go around and ask for donations to their local food banks or church soup kitchen service. They would parade with a tall staff with a rooster figure on top (called a chief's cane) and with each donation, a ribbon is added to the stick. In the evening, when the village would gather for a community potluck, people could reclaim their ribbons from the rooster staff. Festivities of fiddle playing, dancing and merriment were in order in most homes and community centres.
Acadian communities like Chéticamp and other small Acadian hamlets still celebrate to this day!
Ideas for Anyone Far from a Community
Seeing as I don't live in an Acadian community sadly, here are some ideas of things I can do, and maybe you can do too, to celebrate today!
Make crêpes and perform the best flip! Your luck depends on it!
Bless your own candle with holy water, parade it to every corner of your home.
Create a chief's cane, and plant it in your front yard. With every donation you accept for a food bank or other charitable effort, add a ribbon, heck, ask your neighbours and friends to participate!
Use the wax from the candle to bless the lintel post of your doors, or other objects you wish to bless.
Bonus photo: Moonshadow blocking my holiday book's Chandeleur page and refusing to move.
Georges Arsenault. La Chandeleur en Acadie. Editions la Grande Marée. 2011.
La Chandeleur. Painting by Camille Cormier, painted in 1984. Oil on canvas. Coll. Musée Acadien, Moncton University. Acq. 1986-17.
