Feast that occurs each year on the same date. The observance of some of them follows from Christmas Day, December 25, e.g., the Circumcision (January 1,), since the Jewish law prescribed this rite eight days after birth; and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin (February 2,), for this was required of a Jewish mother 40 days after the birth of a male child. The date of Christmas led also to the institution of the feast of the Annunciation (March 25,), nine months before, the beginning of the pregnancy of the Blessed Virgin. Other fixed festivals have been assigned to certain dates by ancient tradition or by special decree of the Church. Some are observed universally, others only in certain places. Some are very ancient, others of recent origin. Some religious orders have their own calendars of saints' days, differing here and there from that of the Church in general. The feast of a saint, in many cases but not in all, is observed on the day of his death, the beginning of his heavenly glory.