Tag Archives: Virgin Mary

“Happy New Year?!” Lady Day 2018

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A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.

A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.

Lilies are often associated with the celebration of Annunciation. When Eve was driven from Paradise, lilies bloomed wherever her tears fell onto the earth and Gabriel presented lilies to the Virgin Mary when he announced that her Son would re-open Paradise to mankind. Other legends say that lilies blossomed from drops of milk from Hera’s breasts that fell upon the earth and that the lily was therefore the only flower with a soul. Lilies are traditionally considered to drive away ghosts and evil (esp. the Evil Eye) and can break love spells. The first lily of the season strengthens whoever finds it.

Roses are also associated with Annunciation and are used to cast love spells or in healing magic. If you plant roses in your garden, they are said to grow best if you have stolen the seeds from someone else and will then attract the faerie folk.

The Annunciation is celebrated on March 25 (the traditional date of the springtime equinox). Not only was Annunciation — and the equinox — vital to keeping track of time for secular purposes, many ancient and medieval authors claimed that the Annunciation/equinox date were vital at many points of salvation history: the birthday of Adam and the Crucifixion were said to have occurred on March 25 as well. Some also said that March 25 marked the fall of Lucifer, the parting of the Red Sea, as well as the day on which God said, “Let there be light!”

Sometimes called “Lady Day,” the Annunciation was kept as New Year’s Day in many places; the last to give up Annunciation as the New Year’s Day was England and its American colonies in 1752. The correct synchronization of the equinox with the Annunciation is a critical element in the calculation of the date of Easter and the medieval and Renaissance disconnect between the Annunciation and the equinox prompted Pope Gregory XIII to reform the calendar in 1582.

Pietà

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A German depiction of the Pietà, c. 1375–1400

Renaissance genius Michelangelo (1475-1564) was born on March 6 in Caprese, Italy. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and visionary best known for his fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his sculptures David and The Pieta.

The Pietà (“pity”) was an image designed to provoke pity and charity among the viewers. The Virgin Mary holds the dead body of her son, Jesus, on her lap. She is often identified as an altar in these images, especially the ones in which her knees are spread wide to support the body of Christ stretched out across them, because her lap–draped with her gown and veil–looks similar to the rectangular altars in medieval and Renaissance churches which were also draped with brocade during the celebration of the Eucharist. The offerings viewers make in response to the image–food for the hungry, clothes for the naked, medicine for the sick–are identified with the offering of the Virgin’s son on the Cross and on the altars.

In some places, gifts of wheat were made to churches in honor of the Pietà image. The wheat would be used to make bread for the poor as well as bread for the Eucharist. Jesus, a dead body but identified as the Bread of Life on the lap of his Mother, is awaiting the Resurrection. The viewers who make these gifts of wheat are likewise awaiting their own opportunity to share the Resurrection and hope that their gifts will move Christ to judge them mercifully, with pity.

Festivals in honor of the Pietà image grew in popularity in the 12th century in German-speaking areas. One was especially popular in Cologne in 1423 and was held on the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter. During the sixteenth century these festivals spread through areas in North Germany, Scandinavia, and Scotland. By the early 1700s, the Pietà festival was common throughout Western Europe.