The Month of Mary
Many are aware of the fact that, since at least the 18th century, Western Christendom has dedicated the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Even though this is a decidedly post-schism practice, there are many Western Rite Orthodox parishes that have adopted it, and I see nothing un-Orthodox about it generally. As such, I thought I would offer a brief reflection on this pious custom.
One of the beautiful traditions that comes out of dedicating May to our Lady is the annual “crowning” of her statue with flowers. This is where members of the congregation, usually children, gather around our Lady’s statue and place a crown of flowers on her head. Understandably, this practice makes some folks uncomfortable because it appears similar to pagan customs that involve adorning idols with symbols of nature, especially in the Springtime. However, there is nothing intrinsically pagan about honoring someone we love with flowers. For example, would it be idolatrous to place a bouquet of flowers before the image of a deceased loved one at their funeral? Or at their grave for that matter? I would think not.
Indeed, in Matthew 23:29 our Lord speaks of the Pharisees who “build the tombs of the prophets and adorn (kosmeó) the monuments of the righteous,” yet hypocritically condemn living righteous men like St. John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus. Although our Lord was condemning the Pharisees, it is clearly not because they were adorning the graves and monuments of the Saints, rather it was because they were doing this pious outward act without interiorizing it. This runs parallel to the Pharisees “tith[ing] mint and dill and cumin” while “neglect[ing] the weightier matters of the law” (Matt 23:23). Tithing is a good thing, something that Jesus explicitly says we should not neglect (Matt 23:24), however it cannot make up for a disordered soul. Likewise, Jesus’ point in Matthew 23:29 is that adorning the graves and monuments of the Saints is a good and holy thing, just one that cannot replace an authentic spiritual life.
Thus, as long as we do not adorn the monuments of our Blessed Mother in vain, i.e. without the virtue of faith, not only is there no sin in giving her statue a crown of flowers, but this practice can truly be a genuine expression of love for our Lord’s Mother. Even though I, as a member of the Eastern Rite, do not personally engage in this practice, I can nonetheless attest to its spiritual profundity. Near my house there is a Catholic family that has a statue of our Lady in their front yard, and every May they observe the tradition and place a crown of flowers on her head. Although it is a small gesture, whenever I pass by it on my Springtime walks it really does remind me of our Lady’s Queenship over the Universe, and it always encourages me to “take refuge under her compassion” in that moment.
Furthermore, there is great scriptural warrant for associating our Lady with the symbols of nature, especially during Springtime. As Serro Hamilton notes, the Earth’s feminine identity goes all the way back to Genesis 1-3. Adam is referred to as “the generations of the heavens and the earth” precisely because he is the offspring of the Spirit of Heaven and the dust of Earth (Gen 2:4, 7). Since the Spirit, as God, is clearly the masculine partner in the creation of life, the Earth must be regarded as the feminine partner. This adds important context to the Spirit “hovering over the face” of the Earth in Genesis 1:2, by further showing the Earth to be the feminine recipient of the Spirit’s life-creating acts throughout the Creation Week.
It comes as no surprise, then, that when echoing the words of Genesis 3:19, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” the righteous Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return” (Job 1:21). Later on, this depiction of “Mother Earth” was further developed by Psalm 139:13-15, which seamlessly passes between affirming that God “knitted me together in my mother’s womb” and that He “made [me] in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the Earth.” In the Second Temple period, Jesus ben Sira would just come out and say that the children of Adam “leave their mother’s womb until the day they return to the mother of all the living” (Sir 40:1). Clearly, the biblical tradition demands us to affirm not only the feminine identity of the Earth, but also some type of association between this “mother of all,” and the first mother of all living, Eve.
Naturally, all of these themes culminate in the New Testament’s portrayal of our Lady, the new Eve. Just as the Spirit overshadowed the feminine Earth to bring forth the first Adam, so now does He overshadow the Holy Virgin to bring forth the last Adam (Lk 1:35). In Romans 11:5, the Apostle Paul refers to a holy “remnant” of faithful Jews who existed at the time of Jesus in fulfillment of Scripture. The prophet Isaiah had also spoken about this remnant that would exist during the time of the Messiah (Is 10:20-21), and he described Israel’s history as one of God “continually” beating and plowing “the ground,” purifying it in order to produce this remnant (Is 28:23-29). Hence, it is no surprise that Isaiah refers to the Messiah as “a shoot” who “shall come forth from the stump of Jesse” (Is 11:1), i.e. the Messiah would blossom forth like a plant from the pure ground of Israel’s remnant. This makes great sense of why it was Isaiah who affirmed that the Mother of the Messiah would be an undefiled Virgin (Is 7:14), the true unsullied ground.
With this in mind, we can better understand why St. Luke’s Gospel opens by focusing on the families of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist: these were the members of Israel’s holy remnant. God’s project of gradually purifying Israel from all stains of sin culminated in the conception and birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who would finally be the holy “stump of Jesse” from whom the Messianic “shoot” could spring forth. She was and is the fertile and undefiled ground that has brought Life into the world. It is perfectly reasonable, then, to say that all of the feminine imagery that Scripture imputes to nature finds its fulfillment in the Virgin Mary. As such, it is most fitting to dedicate the month of May, a time demarcated by the Springtime emergence of new life in nature, to our Blessed Lady.
O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May,
O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May.