The icon is depicting The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known in the East as The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple – a liturgical feast celebrated on November 21 by the Catholic, Orthodox Churches, and some Anglo-Catholic Churches. The feast is associated with an event recounted in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James. According to that text, Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne, who had been childless, received a heavenly message that they would have a child. In thanksgiving for the gift of their daughter, they brought her, when still a child, to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. Tradition held that she was to remain there to be educated in preparation for her role as Mother of God. In Eastern Orthodox tradition, this is one of the days when women named Mary are celebrating their name day.