Observed on February 2 each year, Candlemas is celebrated by Christians as the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple,” an early episode in the life of Jesus forty days after his birth when he was officially inducted into Judaism.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

Luke 2 27:33

Traditionally celebrated as a feast day in the Catholic Church, the Presentation also marks the end of the celebration of Christmas in some Eastern European countries.

In England, Candlemas was the day farmers removed cattle from the hay meadows and any fields that needed plowing or sowing. A traditional rhyme suggests the weather on this day portends the coming of spring:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,

Come, Winter, have another flight.

If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,

Go, Winter, and come not again.

Immigrants to the Americas converted that tradition to Groundhog Day.