Today is Chandeleur - Candlemas Day. It marks the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. So winter is halfway through. That’s encouraging news this year as it’s been a tough one here in Creuse. But is it over yet?

 

The weather today will give us a clue as to what’s in store for the coming weeks, according to some old French sayings.

Chandeleur noire – hiver a fait son devoir.

Chandeleur trouble – l’hiver redouble.

Dull Candlemas – winter has finished its work.

Unsettled Candlemas – winter will get worse.


Another one says:

Quand le soleil a la Chandeleur fait lanterne – quarante jours après il hiverne.

When the sun shines brightly at Candlemas, forty days later it will be wintry.


That saying backs up the groundhog business where if the groundhog (or badger) sees his shadow when he sticks his nose out of his burrow today, he’ll go back into hibernation, knowing there’s more bad weather to come. Not looking good for us I’m afraid as we have sunshine today! I won’t be putting the thermals away.


It’s traditional to eat pancakes today. Now that’s a good tradition! I’ve got some frozen egg out of the freezer all ready for tonight’s fry-up. I have to say that my frozen egg has been a great success. – just as well, since there must about a hundred eggs’ worth in yogurt pots in the freezer. My chickens stop laying in November and don’t usually start again until March. And when they do lay, they do it enthusiastically. Even after giving eggs away we still have plenty going spare. So last summer I started to freeze them. They have to be beaten first, otherwise the white goes funny apparently. I put two together in a plastic pot, cover with cling film and drop them into our cavernous congelateur.
 

Back onto topic. Light some candles tonight while you have your crepes. You’re celebrating candles today, after all. In the old days, the candles would be blessed. They were crucial household items in the days before electricity. They were even said to have healing properties too. That belief lives to this day in Ireland where candles are placed on the throat by a priest today to protect against throat infections.


Finally, you absolutely have to get your Christmas decorations down today if you’ve already missed the usual twelfth night deadline. Candlemas also marked the very, very end of Christmas (forty days on).