The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Some call it Ground Hog Day. For Christians, at least those of us in the catholic tradition, this is a feast day marking the day Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph, was taken to the temple in Jerusalem and dedicated. See Exodus chapter 13.

We don't celebrate this much in the Episcopal church, I suspect because "baby dedication" sounds like something Baptists do. We baptize infants and they dedicate them until they are old enough to say they are born again. When Episcopal kids reach that age we have the Bishop "confirm" them. Same thing, well almost.


This feast is also known the the Purification of Mary. It follows the tradition that somehow women are impure after childbirth and during their monthly bleeding period. Such a feast is born of the fear men have of women's power to give birth.

Unclean does not mean dirty. Could we revive some sense of being in need of a spiritual wash? Men and women alike are estranged from God, from the good spirit of creation in ways that are sinful. When we sin we separate ourselves from God. But there are times, things we do that are not necessarily wrong but move us, not exactly away from God, but perhaps raise some kind of barrier. It is that sort of idea, I think that illuminates what the Hebrew scriptures mean by "unclean."

The only thing I have experienced that might be comparable is periods of depression and panic. I cannot see how such a time equates to the period after childbirth, but I have felt that separation and a need to be cleaned following panic attacks.