May Crowning

As are all flowers, the month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we more formally celebrate as Queen of Heaven on the last day of this month. Early in May, a statue of the Virgin at church is crowned with a wreath of roses, and roses are laid at her feet. Little girls and boys dress up in their best, often in blue or in their First Communion clothes; one child carries the crown on a cushion to the statue and another child is chosen to crown the statue. The selection process varies -- sometimes a boy is chosen to bear the wreath, but always a girl is chosen to crown the statue (usually the oldest girl). The flowers remain throughout the month. Hymns are sung, too, and especially favored is the Victorian "Bring Flowers of the Rarest" (lyrics and melody here).

Catholics honor Mary at home, too, crowning the true "May Queen's" statue with flowers at their family altars, and leaving roses (especially red and/or white ones) at her feet, for the entire month of May. If you don't have a statue of Our Lady, you can place flowers around a picture of her. ¹ To accompany the crowning, most any Marian devotion would serve well (e.g., the Rosary, the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin, the Litany of Loreto, etc.)

A communal element of May 1 celebrations -- "maying" -- is the Maypole -- the erection of a very tall wooden pole from which hang flowers and, often, great colored ribbons. If ribbons are present, they are taken in hand by dancers who dance around the pole such that the ribbons become wrapped around it. Sometimes the Maypole will be painted in various colors important to the area in which it is raised, or carved with symbols of local industry (for an interesting tale of the fate of an historical Maypole in the United States, see Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The May-pole of Merry Mount" (pdf, 8 pages).

In some maying celebrations, a king and queen of May -- invariably a young, unmarried couple -- are chosen and feted, and in some places, little baskets -- "May baskets" -- are filled with flowers, fruits, baked goods, or candies and left on friends' and neighbors' doorsteps. Oh, and women have the custom of getting up early and walking barefoot outdoors to gather morning dew with which to wash their faces, letting their skin dry naturally, without using a towel. This is said by various sources to have different effects -- everything from a beautiful complexion to luck to wealth to good crops to the ability to more easily undo knots.

And the figure of the foliage-covered Green Man, that great and ancient symbol of Spring, may make an appearance. The Green Man's leafy visage can be found carved and painted in both churches and secular buildings all over Europe and in the Middle East. For Christians, he is associated with Adam and the Cross as told in a story recorded by Jacobus de Voragine (d. 1298) in his "Golden Legend," which recounts how Adam's son, Seth, cared for his father's body after death:

[A]ll the days of Adam living here in earth amount to the sum of nine hundred and thirty years. And in the end of his life when he should die, it is said, but of none authority, that he sent Seth his son into Paradise for to fetch the oil of mercy, where he received certain grains of the fruit of the tree of mercy by an angel.

And when he came again he found his father Adam yet alive and told him what he had done. And then Adam laughed first and then died. And then he laid the grains or kernels under his father's tongue and buried him in the vale of Hebron; and out of his mouth grew three trees of the three grains, of which trees the Cross that our Lord suffered His passion on was made, by virtue of which He gat very mercy, and was brought out of darkness into very light of heaven. To the which He bring us that liveth and reigneth God, world without end.

Generally, this is the time to get outside, have picnics, gather flowers, and enjoy the feeling of springtime. For secular music to accompany your maying activities, the classic is "Now is the Month of Maying," written by Thomas Morley in 1595. Note that this song could be read as bawdy: "barley break" refers to a chasing game made of three couples (each couple consists of a man and a woman) who are each stationed in a row in "bases." The bases are marked plots of land anywhere from 10 to 50 feet square. The middle base is called the "barley field," "Hell," or "prison," and the couple stationed on it link arms and have the goal of capturing the other two couples, who try to enter the "barley field" without getting caught. When someone is caught, he has to remain in the barley field until his companion is also caught by the couple linking arms, who can't leave their plot, but have to try to catch the couples daring to enter the barley field, taunting the middle couple with the phrase "barley break!". Once a couple is caught, they have to link arms and become the catchers. At any rate, the term "barley-break" has been used in old poetry to refer to the sexual act. But it doesn't have to be read that way in this song:

In many parts of Italy, the early days of May -- Calendimaggio -- are celebrated in a big way, most especially in Assisi. There, the celebrations, which they dedicate to St. Francis of Assisi, include great medieval dramas, medieval games and competitions, troubadours, the choosing of a May Queen, parades with floats, bonfires, feasting on porchetta (roast pig), and other delights. The entire city joins in on the fun, with townspeople dressing in medieval costumes to get into the spirit of things.

In Cocullo, Abruzzo, Italy, Saint Dominic di Sora -- a Benedictine abbot who died in 1031 -- is honored by "la Festa dei Serpari" on the first of May even though his actual feast is on January 22. Just before May 1, the people of the town hunt snakes, which they take alive and bring to the village (there are four species in the area, all non-poisonous). Then, on the feast itself, Mass is offered for the many pilgrims who come in from Lazio, Campania, and Molise. Before leaving the church, people use their mouths to pull a chain that rings a bell; this is said to prevent toothaches in the coming year (note that, for hygienic reasons, most people put a cloth in their mouth before using their teeth to grab the chain). Then a statue of St. Dominic di Sora is draped in living snakes and processed through the town while the people, many dressed in their traditional ethnic clothing, sing and handle the serpents. After the celebrations, the snakes are returned to the wild whence they came.

Now, Communists made May 1 a day dedicated to the workers they wanted to turn into revolutionaries. Against that idea, in 1955 Pope Pius XII made May 1 a special day to honor workers by honoring St. Joseph the Worker -- that is, St. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, in his position as a man who worked hard at carpentry to care for his family. Today, like any day, is a good day to honor the man entrusted by God to care for His Son and the Blessed Virgin. As we crown the Virgin as the true Queen of May, let's remember the man who cared for her, and for the Son Who saved them both.

Finally, there is a beautiful astronomical coincidence for this time of year. In most of the populated areas of the Northern hemisphere, if you go outside early in May, face East, and look directly up overhead, you will see a relatively faint "L" in the sky (assuming the sky is clear enough). This is the constellation Coma Berenices ² -- a constellation that was named after a Queen (actually, a Queen's hair, but that's another story). Anyway, the second brightest star in this constellation is called "Diadem" -- crown of royalty. So take your children outside, point out the star Diadem to them, and think of Our Lady, crowned in Heaven -- our Queen Mother who wants nothing more than for us to love her Son...

Footnotes:
¹ Tip for keeping cut flowers fresh: re-cut stems, and put an aspirin, a penny, some sugar, and a 1/2 capful of bleach into their water. Change water every day and repeat the above. Keep them in a cool place -- in the fridge at night, if possible. Doing these things really will keep them fresh a lot longer!

² "Coma Berenices" is pronounced "Coe-mah Bair-eh-nee'-chayz." To read more about the stars, especially the stars of the Zodiac and the stars as signs, see the Zodiac sub-section of this site.