February 3rd is the feast of St. Blaise. We used to get our throats blessed. We'd go to church and after Mass we'd go back up to the communion rail and the priest would come out with two candles tied in a red ribbon (St Blaise was a martyr) and place them under our jaws by the throat and say, By the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may you be preserved from all sickness of the throat and all other illness, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
As a boy in 1950's Catholic school, it was one more event that got us out of the classroom for an hour or so!
St. Blaise was an early Christian martyr in the middle East. While in prison, he saved a boy who was choking on a fishbone.
The original Heimlich maneuver.
The candles used had been blessed the day before, Candlemas Day. That day, 40 days following Christmas, commemorated the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple, to perform the redemption of the Firstborn, when old Simeon met the little family and uttered his little canticle, sung every night at Vespers (Byzantines and Anglicans) or Compline (Romans), Nunc Dimittis:
Now, O Lord, you may let your servant depart in peace,
according to your promise,
for my eyes have seen your salvation
which you have prepared for all nations:
a light of revelation for the Gentiles
and glory for your people Israel.
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