medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Who can tell us more about the association between the hawthorn blossom, or May as it is
> known, and the Blessed Virgin Mary?
> Oh Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,
> Queen of the angels, and Queen of the May...
Dear Bill,
According to William Christian, Local Religion in 16th-Century Spain (Princeton,
1981), pp.115ff., 1 May had been a Roman feast day, and as late as the 17th
century the diocesan constitutions of Siguenza forbade the choosing of May queens
or kings and the decoration of doorways with branches. There was quite a
concentration of processions and vows -- some in the form of rogations --
associated with the first two weeks in May, which indicates its critical importance in
the agricultural cycle. Just how Mary got caught up in all of this is not clear, but it
appears that this is another of seemingly many "baptized idolatries" that permeated
local religion in the Middle Ages and Early Modern periods, and still survive in
various forms to the present in some places.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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