On This Day: February 2

This is the 33rd day of the year.

Fact of the Day: Candlemas and Groundhog Day

Candlemas commemorates the occasion when the Virgin Mary, in obedience to Jewish law, went to the Temple in Jerusalem both to be purified 40 days after the birth of her son and to present Jesus to God as her firstborn. The festival was formerly known in the Roman Catholic church as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is now known as the Presentation of the Lord. In the Greek church, it is called Hypapante (Meeting), in reference to Jesus' meeting in the Temple with the aged Simeon. Candlemas is celebrated with a great display of candles. Groundhog Day is actually based on the old belief that if the sun shines on Candlemas Day or if the groundhog sees his shadow when he emerges on this day, six weeks of winter will ensue.

Holidays

Candlemas (Wives' Feast Day)/ Presentation of the Lord/ Imbolc / Imbolg / Lupercalia / Feast of Pan / Feast of Torches / Feast of Waxing Light / Oimelc.

Feast day of the Purification, St. Joan de Lestonnac, St. Adalbald of Ostrevant, and the Martyrs of Ebsdorf.

Groundhog Day.

Events

962 - Otto I invaded Italy and is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

1536 - The Argentine city of Buenos Aires was founded by Pedro de Mendoza of Spain.

1653 - New Amsterdam -- now New York City -- was incorporated.

1801 - The first parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland assembled.

1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo formally ended the Mexican War.

1848 - The United States paid Mexico $15 million for lands that eventually became Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.

1863 - Samuel Langhorne Clemens decided to use the pseudonym "Mark Twain."

1876 - The National Baseball League was founded with eight teams: Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Louisville, and Hartford.

1878 - Greece declared war on Turkey.

1887 - The first Groundhog Day was celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

1892 - William Painter of Baltimore, Maryland, patented the crown-cork bottle cap.

1916 - U.S. Senate voted independence for the Philippines, effective in 1921.

1936 - Babe Ruth was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1943 - The last German troops in Stalingrad surrendered to the Red Army, ending one of the pivotal battles of World War II.

1946 - The game "Twenty Questions" was first aired on radio.

1950 - "What's My Line?" premiered on TV.

1967 - The American Basketball Association was formed.

1971 - Idi Amin assumed power in Uganda, following a coup ousting President Milton Obote.

1980 - Details of ABSCAM, an FBI operation to uncover political corruption in the government, were released to the public. The FBI had conducted a sting operation targeting members of Congress using phony Arab businessmen.

1989 - The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation in Afghanistan.

1990 - President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela.

2003 - After 13 years as president of Czechoslovakia and then of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel gave his farewell address.

2006 - An aging Egyptian passenger ferry carrying more than 1,400 people sinks in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast.

Births

1882 - James Joyce, Irish poet and novelist.

1895 - George Halas, American, co-founder of National Football League.

1901 - Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born violin virtuoso.

1905 - Ayn Rand (Alissa Rosenbaum), Russian-born American social critic, writer.

1907 - W.H. Auden, British-born Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.

1942 - Graham Nash, English-born singer-songwriter.

1947 - Farrah Fawcett-Majors (born Ferrah Leni Fawcett), American actress.

Deaths

1884 - Wendell Phillips, American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, and orator.

1969 - Boris Karloff (born William Henry Pratt), English-born American actor.

1979 - Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie), English punk rock musician and bass player of the Sex Pistols.

1996 - Gene Kelly (born Eugene Curran Kelly), American dancer, choreographer, movie actor, and director.