proverb · Words worth keeping
On Candlemas day throw candle and candle-stick away.
On Candlemas day throw candle and candle-stick away.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying imagines Candlemas as the point when candles can be put aside. Throwing away the candle and holder exaggerates a sense of reduced need for them.
What the words are saying
The instruction gives a seasonal transition a dramatic household action. It can express anticipation of lighter days within the saying’s frame. It does not prove that candles are unnecessary then in every place or situation, and literal disposal would not follow from the image alone. A useful reading considers changing needs without treating a calendar expression as a command to waste useful objects.
Everyday example
A household reviews which supplies it still needs rather than literally throwing useful items away because a saying names a date.
When to use it
Use it to discuss changing household needs in a seasonal image.
What it does not mean
The date is not a universal light boundary or an instruction to discard useful equipment.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 195 · Candlemas day
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English