On May 6th the Home held its annual May Crowning at our Sunday liturgy service. Two of our Residents, Mrs. Louise Nawrocki and Mr. John Zibbel, had the distinct honor of bringing up the wreath of flowers and crowning the statue of Mary. They were both so excited to represent the Home and honor Mary at this ceremony. Many Residents attended this simple service with a touch of charming nostalgia.
The practice of doing a May Crowning is said to trace back to around 1366, where in an annual May devotional was started for the Passion and for prayers of good weather. Tiny buds, used in the ceremony, were blessed and protected and hoped to develop to maturity. Around the early 1700’s, in Italy, the May ceremony was combined with a devotional to Mary, the Mother of God. The motif of the buds developed into the blossoms used today in the Crown of Flowers placed on Mary’s head. A more enlivened ceremony focused on a Marian May devotion. The interpretation of fitting Bible passages – above all the Song of Songs 2:1 “ a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys” – led to dedicating May to our Lady as a month of blossoms and flowers.
