ttire. The fool carries an inflated bladder tied to the end of a
long stick, by way of whip, which he does not fail to apply pretty
soundly to the heads and shoulders of his team. When anything is
given a cry of 'Largess!' is raised, and a dance performed round the
plough. If a refusal to their application for money is made they not
unfrequently plough up the pathway, door-stone, or any other portion
of the premises they happen to be near."{60}

By Plough Monday we have passed, it seems probable, from New Year
festivals to one that originally celebrated the beginning of spring. Such
a feast, apparently, was kept in mid-February when ploughing began at
that season; later the advance of agriculture made it possible to shift
it forward to early January.{61}

CANDLEMAS.

Nearer to the original date of the spring feast is Candlemas, February 2;
though connected with Christmas by its ecclesiastical meaning, it is
something of a vernal festival.{62}

The feast of the Purification of the Virgin or Presentation of Christ in
the Temple was probably instituted by Pope Liberius at Rome in the fourth
century. The ceremonial to which it owes its popular name, Candlemas, is
the blessing of candles in church and the procession of the faithful,
carrying them lighted in their hands. During the blessing the "Nunc
dimittis" is chanted, |353| with the antiphon "Lumen ad revelationem
gentium et gloriam plebis tuae Israel," the ceremony being thus brought
into connection with the "light to lighten the Gentiles" hymned by
Symeon. Usener has however shown reason for thinking that the Candlemas
procession was not of spontaneous Christian growth, but was inspired by a
desire to Christianize a Roman rite, the _Amburbale_, which took place at
the same season and consisted of a procession round the city with lighted
candles.{63}

The Candlemas customs of the sixteenth century are thus described by
Naogeorgus:

"Then numbers great of Tapers large, both men and women beare
To Church, being halowed there with pomp, and dreadful words to heare.
This done, eche man his Candell lightes, where chiefest seemeth hee,
Whose taper greatest may be seene, and fortunate to bee,
Whose Candell burneth cleare and brighte; a wondrous force and might
Doth in these Candells lie, which if at any time they light,
They sure beleve that neyther storme or tempest dare abide,
Nor thunder in the skies be heard, n