Liechtenstein Edition
Dia de la Candelaria leads today's complete edition for Liechtenstein.
Daily Edition
Official observances, world days, local context, and everyday celebrations for people who need something worth reading, sharing, or talking about today.
The Virgin of Candelaria is venerated across northern Chile, especially in the mining towns where faith is the only thing stronger than the desert. Processions carry her through streets lined with copihues and copper dust. The miners pray to her before every shift and she has never let them down.
The midpoint of winter, and the day when the Christmas candles are blessed and spring is predicted. The tradition says that if the badger sees his shadow on Candlemas, there will be six more weeks of winter. The American version (Groundhog Day) is derived from this tradition, but the Liechtenstein version is older and more dignified. In the Alpine churches of the principality : the Pfarrkirche St. Florin in Vaduz, the St. Peter and Paul church in Schaan : the candles are blessed and distributed, and the light against the dark of winter is both literal and symbolic.