“The hind had as lief see
his wife on the bier,
As that Candlemas-day
should be pleasant and clear.”
So also Browne, in his “Vulgar Errors,” affirms, that “there is a general tradition in most parts of Europe, that inferreth the coldness of succeeding winter from the shining of the sun on Candlemas-day, according to the proverbial distich:
‘Si Sol splendescat Mariâ purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante.’”
The “Country Almanac” for 1676, in the month of February, versifies to the same effect:
“Foul weather is no news;
hail, rain, and snow,
Are now expected, and
esteem’d no woe;
Nay, ’tis an omen bad,
The yeomen say,
If Phœbus shows his face
the second day.”
Country Almanac, (Feb.) 1676.
Other almanacs prophesy to the like purport:
“If Candlemas-day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
But if Candlemas-day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.”
The next old saw is nearer the truth than either of the preceding:
“When Candlemas-day is come and gone,
The snow lies on a hot stone.”