Festivals of Western Europe, by Dorothy Gladys Spicer, , at
sacred-texts.com NEITJORSDAG (New Year's Day) January 1 New
Year's Day is a time for exchanging greetings and
congratulations and visiting family and friends. Parents and
relatives customarily give children gifts of money on the first
day of the year. LICHTMESDAG (Candlemas), in Luxembourg-Ville,
canton Luxembourg February 2 Candlemas, the festival
commemorating the Purification of the Virgin Mary on the
fortieth day after Jesus' birth and the Presentation of her Son
at the Temple, gets its name from the custom of blessing candles
in the churches. In Luxembourg-Ville school children carry
blessed candles to the homes of shut-ins and persons too old or
infirm to take their own candles to church for the customary
benediction. The boys and girls go from house to house with
lighted candles attached to small spiked batons. Holding their
torches high, the youthful visitors knock at doors and sing this
Song of Lights: We hope that all your life You will see