The feast is also known as "the holy meeting" or"hypapanthe", from the Greek for "to go forth to meet".

The feast is also called Candlemas, because it was celebrated by candlelight to express Simeon's testimony about Jesus Christ:"light for revelation to the nations".

It's also called the Feast of the Purification because, forty days after the Lord's birth, the Virgin Mary came to the Temple to purify herself, according to the law of Moses.

Jesus was presented to the Temple by Mary and Joseph, and met the old man Simeon and the prophetess Anna, who were in the Temple at the time.

The Holy Encounter is that of God and his people, foreshadowing the liturgical encounter.

"Every soul should be a Temple of God, where Mary brings Jesus. And each of us, like Simeon, should take the child in his arms and say to the Father: 'My eyes have seen your salvation'.

Simeon's prayer, "Let your servant go in peace", not only means that the one who has seen Jesus and held him in his arms can now leave this life, die in peace. It also means for us that, having seen and touched the Savior, we are delivered from the bondage of sin and can depart in peace from the kingdom of evil."

Excerpt from: L'An de grâce du Seigneur, Père Lev Gillet Editions du Cerf.

This feast existed in Jerusalem from the first half of the 4th century, and was extended to the entire Byzantine Empire by Justinian I in 542.

In 472, Pope Gelasius I organized torchlight processions on February 2, taking over the pagan rites of the "Roman parentalia" for the Church.

The Roman festival of Candelabrum Festa was a celebration of light and of Proserpina, the goddess of light, who had been abducted by Pluto, the god of the underworld.

Proserpina spent six months of the year at her husband's side as Queen of the Underworld, in autumn and winter. For the remaining six months, she resided on Earth, helping her mother Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and harvests, with spring and summer.

During the Candelabra festival, the Romans lit candles at midnight as a sign of purification,

February, moreover, takes its name from the Latin verb februare, "to purify".

This is why Christianity would have placed the feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary at this time. The purification in question is that of emerging from the "winter darkness".

And the pancakes?

Pancakes then arrived in the West under the influence of the Celts, the pancake symbolizing the solar wheel and the gift made to the divinities to prevent the wheat, stored in stockpiles, from spoiling.

Pancakes, which are associated with this festival in the West, are also found in the traditional blini of dairy week (carnival) in Russia.

Clearly, this round shape also harks back to pagan traditions and recalls the return of the sun in spring...

Two other explanations:

• In Rome, cereal cakes were eaten in honor of the goddess Proserpine.
• Many pilgrims were in Rome for the celebration of Jesus' presentation in the Temple. They had to be received, especially as some had left Jerusalem hungry. Pope Gelasius I asked that round pancakes be made to feed the crowds. Thus was born the tradition of pancakes.

Candlemas

Etymologically, Candlemas comes from the Latin "candelorum" meaning "candles".

Candlemas is therefore the Christian festival of candles, reminding us that Jesus is the "Light of Israel".

Candlemas, from its Celtic name "Imbolc", was originally a pagan festival of rebirth, fertility and light.

It was celebrated on the night of February 1 to 2, when the days began to lengthen.

Peasants processioned through their fields, carrying torches and praying to the goddess Brigid to purify them before sowing.

The year's surplus flour was then used... to make pancakes!

From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, the Germans, Scandinavians and Celts - to a lesser extent - also celebrated the emergence from hibernation of the Bear, then considered the king of animals.

People dressed up or dressed in drag to celebrate the lengthening of the days.

Until the 18th century, Candlemas was known as "chandelours" in many regions (particularly in the mountains) where the cult of the Bear was still alive and well.

There's a belief in many countries that a bear emerges from its den on Candlemas Day. If the weather is fine and the sun is high in the sky, he quickly returns to his long sleep. Because the bear knows that the good weather won't last.

A nursery rhyme says that if the weather is fine on February 2, the bear will go back into hibernation for 40 days, and that the Candlemas sun "heralds winter and misfortune."

For Christians, February 1 marks the feast of Saint Brigid of Ireland.

The perpetual fire at Kildare Abbey, founded by Saint Brigid, is a continuation of an earlier cult linked to the goddess Brigit.

The Topographia Hibernica II specifies that only women are allowed to fan the fire.

This cult of divine fire is linked to the original nature of the goddess, Aurora, "mother of the red (dark) Sun". Rúadán, who founded her three main functions as patroness of blacksmiths (the "arts of fire"), physicians and poets.

These three functions were passed on to Saint Brigid, patron saint of poets, craftsmen and women in childbirth.