The Blessing of Throats . . .

Do you have the Blessing of Throats in your parish on the Feast of St Blaise? We do.

This tradition stems from the story of St Blaise healing a boy with a fishbone caught in this throat.

It made me think about these sort of traditions and devotions in general. It was interesting to note that when I started looking for some information to confirm my understanding of the feast and the tradition, I found a link to an article on the Blessing of Throats under the title, ' British Folk Customs'. What is the difference between a 'folk custom' and a 'religious tradition'? Where does tradition and/or custom end and superstition begin?

Fr Dwight Longenecker has a very interesting post on just this subject. You'll find it on his blog Standing on my Head.

I hope you all manage to get though the rest of the Winter free from throat problems.