On =Ascension Day= the Church celebrates the Ascension of our Saviour; while the =Feast of the Assumption= similarly reminds Roman Catholics of the consummation of the Virgin’s mission upon earth by being assumed into Heaven. =Holy Cross Day=, =Holy Rood Day=, and the =Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross= are one and the same, the term Rood being Old English, derived from the Anglo-Saxon _rôd_, for cross. This festival, which occurs on the 14th of September, celebrates the restoration of the Holy Cross of Calvary to Jerusalem in the year 628. =All Saints’ Day= (Nov. 1st), is the day dedicated to those whose sanctification during life merited their canonization by the Church after death; while =All Souls’ Day= (Nov. 2nd) is the day set apart for special prayers, having for their object the liberation of the suffering souls in Purgatory. The older designation of the first-named was =Allhallowes Day=, in accordance with the Anglo-Saxon word _haligan_, holy. =Allhallowe’en= denoted the evening before, generally attended with sundry amusements in the social circle; conspicuous among which was the cracking of nuts in large quantities in the fire, whence it received the name of =Cracknut Night=.
=St. Valentine’s Day= (Feb. 14th) is sacred to the memory of Bishop Valentine, a Christian martyr beheaded at Rome on this day in the year 278. The custom among young people of sending poetical souvenirs to their sweethearts on the birthday of St. Valentine originated from the old notion that birds commenced to couple on this day: hence, a sweetheart chosen on the 14th of February anciently bore the name of a VALENTINE. Nowadays, alas! the paper VALENTINES are all that remain to remind us of the fact. =St. Swithin’s Day= (July 15th) perpetuates the memory of St. Swithin, the preceptor of King Ethelwulf and Bishop of Winchester, who died July 2, 862. The vulgar belief that if it rains on this day it will continue to rain for forty successive days is attributed to the tradition that when, despite the saint’s dying request to be buried in the churchyard, the clergy took steps to disinter his body in order to remove it within the cathedral, a heavy downpour of rain necessitated a postponement of their efforts on thirty-nine successive days, whereupon, after the fortieth attempt, they determined to allow the saint to remain where he lay. =St. David’s Day= (Mar. 1st) commemorates the victory won by the Welsh over the Saxons on the birthday of their Archbishop (born 490, died 554), in the year 540. It was in consequence of the Archbishop having ordered them on this occasion to place a leek in their caps, so as to distinguish one another from the invaders, that the Welsh afterwards adopted the leek as their national emblem in his honour. =Comb’s Mass=, which in the north of Scotland, and Caithness more particularly, takes the place of our Whitsuntide, is the colloquial term for the Feast of St. Columba, Abbot of Iona (born 521, died 597).