May 1 is Mary's Day

This morning there was a May Crowning at school, to celebrate the feast of Mary the Mother of God and the beginning of her month. There is a procession with Mary's statue, and hymns and chanting. Inside the church, there is a Rosary and Marian hymns and the ceremony of the crowning. Kindergarteners and eighth graders traditionally process in together, after the rest of the school. They are each given a rose to place at Mary's feet inside the church. Eighth graders wear their dressiest clothes and take a class portrait, and kindergarteners wear their Dress uniforms.

R was almost at the end of the line.

Look at the knees of her tights! There must have been an incident at morning recess.

The eyes on the far right belong to her best little friend Joe. It's funny to think how those big boys in suits will be the peewees next year when they start high school. It's all in the perspective.

The principal talked about the eighth graders who are just about to graduate, and remembered his own daughter walking down the center aisle of the church as a kindergartener with her own eighth grade escort, 23 years ago. He had to stop for a second. I think he was about to cry.

It was a beautiful ceremony on a cold, overcast day. I didn't take any pictures inside the church because I'm still shy about that, unless it's a wedding or a Baptism. But it was sweet to see the little heads and big heads alternating in the first pews.