Advent Calendar 2021

Page from a 15th-century Book of Hours, likely made in Northeast France. Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA, 07.MS.639. To view a zoomable version on Google Arts & Culture, **click on the image**.

15. Presentation in the Temple

This scene of the Presentation in the Temple is from a page in a 15-century Flemish prayer book. Known as a Book of Hours, these personal prayer books contained devotions appropriate for the eight canonical hours of the day, as well as other prayers and texts. According to the Gospel of Luke, after Jesus was born Joseph and Mary traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem. While they were there, the Holy Spirit visited Simeon and revealed to him that Jesus was the Messiah. Simeon then proclaimed the child to be “a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (2:32).

Mary is here depicted carrying Jesus toward Simeon, who prepares to receive the child with a white cloth. Mary, Jesus, and Simeon all have haloes. The woman on the left, perhaps the prophetess Anna (2:36), holds three birds—no doubt a reference to the “pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons” intended for sacrifice in accordance with the law (2:24). In the borders of the page, brown dogs hunt a pig (left) and a small black mammal (perhaps a stoat).

Visit us at Follow the Star: A 2021 Advent Calendar.