Ocarina listen #251

Candlemas, the mid-winter festivity that celebrates the return of the sun and the fertility of the earth, is celebrated around the world.  

Even before it became a Christian festivity, Candlemas was also celebrated by the Romans in honor of the goddess Februa (or Ferbis, the Latin goddess from which the name of February is also derived), the goddess of purification.

Even earlier, the Celtic peoples of northern Italy and western Europe celebrated Imbolc or the mid-winter festival, an important time for shepherds as it coincided with the birth of lambs.

During this festival, it was also traditional to predict the arrival of spring by assessing the behavior of the animals. In some regions of the Alps, Candlemas is still called ‘Bear Day’. It is believed that on this day, the bear comes out of its hibernation and its den to see the weather and to determine whether or not it should come out of its hibernation: if the weather is cloudy, it announces the imminent arrival of spring; if, on the contrary, the weather is clear and sunny, the bear returns to sleep in its den. The same thing happens in the United States, where on February 2, they celebrate the Groundhog Day and observe its behavior to know if the warm season will soon arrive.

So we also want to mark this day by listening to one of the most beautiful songs about the sun: Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles. A sweet and positive song, also appreciated by children.

It is a famous song of the Fab Four composed by George Harrison and released with the album Abbey Road in 1969. Harrison was coming out of a difficult period and the inspiration for this song came to him at a totally unexpected moment: he was in the garden of his long-time friend Eric Clapton when he felt the warmth of the sun coming in after the winter, so he took one of Clapton’s acoustic guitars and wrote this song spontaneously.

Catchy music, simple lyrics with few expressions and onomatopoeic sounds, Here Comes The Sun is a real hymn to good mood, so much so that one of its phrases has become a kind of saying today:

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it’s all right