Around the blogosphere I see posts celebrating May Day from Counterlight, Episcopelican, and MadPriest, who is nothing but a damn Commie, along with Counterlight, and I wondered that the celebrations of the day didn't resonate. After pondering a bit, I realized that we did not celebrate May Day. In Roman Catholic tradition, at least in the ancient days of my youth and childhood, the whole month of May was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and instead of a maypole or the crowning of the May Queen, we crowned a statue of the Virgin Mary as Queen of May.
Each day, a different girl was assigned to bring a flower wreath and have the privilege of placing the wreath on the head of a statue of Mary. A boy, unless it was an all-girls school, carried the wreath on a pillow in step with the girl who was to do the crowning at the head of a procession from our school to the statue. As we processed, we sang the hymn, "Bring Flowers of the Rarest". Our statue, with Mary wearing a white robe and a blue cloak, was quite tall and stood on a pedestal. To reach the head of the statue, the girl had to climb a short ladder. Some families created homemade wreaths, while the more well-to-do ordered theirs from the florist.
In the video below, Mary Flower sings the hymn.
BRING FLOWERS OF THE RAREST
Bring flowers of the rarest
bring blossoms the fairest,
from garden and woodland and hillside and dale;
our full hearts are swelling,
our glad voices telling
the praise of the loveliest flower of the vale!
Refrain:
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today!
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
Our voices ascending,
In harmony blending,
Oh! Thus may our hearts turn
Dear Mother, to thee;
Oh! Thus shall we prove thee
How truly we love thee,
How dark without Mary
Life's journey would be.
Refrain.
Image at the head of the post from St. Patrick's Parish in Onalaska, Wisconsin.
UPDATE: I love the hymn, and writing and arranging the post was a poignant trip down Memory Lane to arrive at a place named Nostalgia with a catch in my throat.
Alleluia, alleluia! Christ is risen! And I believe that Jesus approves when we honor his mother.
"...who is nothing but a damn Commie, along with Counterlight..."
ReplyDeleteAnd what are you, Madame? As far as many of your fellow citizens in Thibodaux are concerned, you're right up here with us on Lenin's Tomb reviewing the parade.
And what are you, Madame?
ReplyDeleteA damn Commie, I suppose. It takes one to know one.
Then pass me a bottle of Stolichnaya and a straw and let's party!
ReplyDeleteDo you like yours straight or mixed with another ingredient? I like screwdrivers myself, but you may find that a tame choice.
ReplyDeleteThese days, I usually don't do anything much stronger than beer.
ReplyDeleteI like a good margarita. And mojitos. I like a good glass of Stolly too, mixed with something or just with ice, it don't matter.
ReplyDeleteWe're all damn Commies, I think.
And why does no one address the pious content of the post? Nevermind. The question is rhetorical. I have no pious friends is why. I'll have to wait for the Catholics of a certain age to come by and leave a word.
ReplyDeleteAs the great Protestant theologian Karl Barth always reminded us, faith and piety are never identical.
ReplyDeleteDid my Methodist upbringing just slip out there?
Just as the saying, "Once a Catholic..." is true to a great extent, is it also true that, "You can take the boy out of the Methodist Church, but you can never take the Methodist out of the boy"?
ReplyDeleteTook me right back to the May Processions and playing endless Marian hymns whilst the children filed into the school hall handing their posies to strew at the BVM's feet, watched by rows of damp eyed mothers and grandmothers. The men notable only by their absence of course. Ah well, reverie over and rosary tucked discreetly inside my pocket.
ReplyDeleteAve..
Ostrich, thank heavens!
ReplyDeleteAve, ave, Maria.
We reek of piety, my dear. Oh, no wait. I've been working in the yard and have not yet had my bath. Must not be piety after all
ReplyDeleteHappy May Day, Mimi!
Paul, you reek of something other than piety - the reek about which I don't want to think, but I love you anyway. But here's the thing: no hugs now, not even of the virtual kind.
ReplyDeleteHooray for Marian devotions!
ReplyDeleteMy Roman Catholic parish used to have May Day processions and Marian crownings before Vatican II, and as a kid born in the late 60's, I grew up longing for them. I was bummed that we didn't have all those extra bits of popular piety to enjoy.
So, when I acquired my first large Mary statue at the age of twenty, I made sure she had a floral crown for the month. Being an unrepentant iconodule and Mariolater (as well as a commie), I still do this. ;-)
Of course, my family thinks I'm a bit weird, but they're absolutely right.
Thanks for the memory of my childhood!
ReplyDeleteRachael, how lovely that you carry on the May crowning tradition in your home. I never thought to do that.
ReplyDeleteWhiteycat, you're welcome. I strive to oblige.
I first heard this song on (of course) EWTN, during a "Family Theater" presentation of "The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary" (c 1954 or thereabouts).
ReplyDeleteI thought it was the most gawdawful schlock I'd ever heard! [Y'know, in that charming "Oh, it's the RCs: bless their hearts!" kind of gawdawful way. ;-)]
If we're drinking Commie, can I have some Cuban Rum, instead?
One more thing: am I the only one here who, when reading the phrase "May Queen", FIRST thinks Led Zeppelin and "Stairway to Heaven"? ;-/
ReplyDeleteJCF, remind me never to invite you on a trip down Memory Lane. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe song predated EWTN, and whatever the quality of the words and music of the hymn, I have fond memories associated with it.
Of course, you can have Cuban rum, m'dear. And THOSE May Queens are very nice, too.
My sister and I love this!!!We are from the Hartford Catholic Worker in USA....check out our website
ReplyDeletewww.hartfordcatholicworker.org
We love May/Mary crownings too!!!