The festival of the Virgen de la Candelaria is celebrated on February 2 in various Hispanic Catholic countries. In Mexico, it is linked to the Día de los Reyes Magos celebration a month before with its cutting of the Rosca bread. Whoever found the baby Jesus, the muñeco, tucked away in a piece of cake had to pay for a celebration on Día de la Candelaria with tamales and hot chocolate.

This February 2nd festival is a Christian celebration with pagan roots that honors the anniversary of the day Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth, in order to perform the required sacrifice of purification. As early as the Fourth century B.C., women in Jerusalem were regarded as impure for forty days after childbirth.

At its pagan roots, Día de la Candelaría evokes the Ancient Roman Festival of Lights, or Candlemas, officially celebrated on February 1st. On this day, the Goddess Demeter of agriculture was worshiped with a festival of seeds and candles. She was later adopted by the Christians, who placed emphasis on the candles. They signify the enlightened path for great powers to ward off storms, earthquakes and various maladies.

All pictures are jpeg (jpg) 24-bits, 144 dpi format with 1024 pixels in the largest dimension. Higher resolution pictures are generally available, up to 1712 x 1368, as tif, jpeg/jpg, gif, tga, png, pcx, or bmp formats. Please email me if you are interested in these other formats.

Mexico Photo Albums

• Archeological and Cultural Sites
• La Família de Toni

Tabasco

• Maps of Tabasco
• La Venta
• Comalcalco
• Tapijulapa

Chiapas

• Maps of Chiapas
• Palenque
• Chan-Kah Resort
• Misol-Ha
• Agua Azul

La Família de Toni

• Boda de Tony y Alejandro
• Día de Candelaria
• Día de los Reyes
• Año Nuevo
• Rancho
• Navidad
• NocheBuena
• Río Grijalva

Other Photo Albums

• Saudi Arabia
• Northwest United States
• Family