Candlemas Day is another name for the feast of the Presentation of  the Lord. Forty days after His birth, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to  the temple for the rites of purification and dedication as prescribed by  the Torah. According to the Book of Leviticus (12:1-4), when a woman  bore a male child, she was considered “unclean” for seven days. On the  eighth day, the boy was circumcised. The mother continued to stay at  home for 33 days for her blood to be purified. After the 40 days, the  mother and the father came to the temple for the rite of purification,  which included the offering of a sacrifice — a lamb for a holocaust  (burnt offering) and a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering, or for a  poor couple who could not afford a lamb, two pigeons or two  turtledoves. Note Joseph and Mary made the offering of…