According to the tradition recorded in the Protoevangelium of James, when Mary reached the age of three, her parents brought her to the Temple, where she remained until her betrothal to Joseph.
The establishment of the feast is connected with the church erected by Emperor Justinian I (527–565) in honor of the Most Holy Mother of God, on the site of the ancient Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah. The consecration of the church took place on November 21, 543.
After 638, when Justinian’s church was converted into a mosque, the day of its consecration began to spread throughout the Christian world as the Feast of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Temple.
By the late 7th and early 8th centuries, the feast was already being celebrated in Constantinople. It was introduced into the tradition of the Armenian Church in the 18th century. All Churches observe it on November 21.