The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary…A beautiful day with some beautiful customs

our Fatima grotto

Recently, we were discussing the (then upcoming) feast of the Assumption at table.  Sr. Elaine, who had been a teacher for a time, shared that this was the day on which they would travel to their school assignments for the new year.  She did not remember all the details, but recalled that they used to recite an antiphon a number of times: “Mary has been assumed into heaven: the angels rejoice. They sing for joy and praise the Lord.”

I, personally, never took part in this, but have my own valuable memory connected to this feastday.  Fourteen years ago, I made the St. Louis de Montfort Marian consecration on this day.  The last couple of years, I have forgotten to do the prayers and readings in preparation for renewing it, but I still remember the feast in conjunction with this.

I also remember my mother, who grew up on a farm near Karlsruhe, ND, sharing her memories of this special day for our Lady.  They would pick chokecherries, rather than take part in the normal farm labor.  Even though one normally might take a break on a holy day (the phrase from which holiday is derived), she remembers that they didn’t get a break from the chokecherries even after finishing for the day.  She would close her eyes in the evening and still “see” chokecherries before her.

Carmel of Mary Pilgrimage site

One beautiful custom held around the feast of the Assumption is the annual diocesan pilgrimage at the Carmelite monastery outside Wahpeton, ND.  I was privileged to take part in this beautiful gathering in honor of our Blessed Mother once when I was in formation in Hankinson.

Hot Cross Buns…One a Penny…Two a Penny

I just finished mixing up my dough.  In the almost six years that I’ve been here at St. Anne’s, it’s become tradition that I make hot cross buns to serve for our residents’ snack on Holy Thursday afternoon.  Actually, they have traditionally been a food for Lent and Good Friday especially.  However, serving a special homemade treat seems more appropriate, to us here, for Holy Thursday rather than during the solemn fasting of Good Friday.  Also, Holy Thursday is the day we gratefully remember the first Eucharist, when Christ gave the “Bread from Heaven” for the first time.  To me, it seems fitting that residents enjoy these little breads on that day.

This time of the liturgical year is busy and a bit stressful since I serve as sacristan here, but I still like to take the time to make Hot Cross Buns.  It’s a kind of neat way of keeping our Catholic cultural traditions alive.  I must confess, I’ve usually cheated in the past, using frozen sweet bread dough, but this year I’m doing them from scratch!  I blame it, in part, on last month’s pretzel-making.  I have a few yeast packets left over that I might as well use up. My other reason for not “cheating” this year is the hope that the raisins will stay in place better if I can knead them right in as I mix the dough.  In the past, I’ve had some of them pop out and there would be raisins left on the pans. 🙂

I’d like to share some history about Hot Cross Buns which I found some years back.  I regret that I no longer have the source(s) to document.  

Hot cross buns have quite a history, within Christianity and even mixed with pagan traditions (Incan, Egyptians, Saxons and possibly even Roman roots).  As with many things, the church adopted Hot Cross Buns during their early missionary efforts to pagan cultures. They re-interpreted the “cross” of icing which adorns the bun to signify the cross of Jesus.” The practice of eating special small cakes at the time of the Spring festival seems to date back at least to the ancient Greeks.”

One source noted the Christian roots in the 1100s when a monk placed the sign of the cross on buns to honor Good Friday, known at that time as the “Day of the Cross.”  Another source dates this event to the 1300s.  “Hot cross buns” became popular in England and Ireland, and later in the United States.

These buns have an interesting connection with the persecution of Catholics in 16^th century England.  When Catholicism was banned, people could be tried for “Popery” because they marked the cross on their Good Friday buns.  They came up with an excuse for continuing the practice, saying that it was necessary so for the buns to properly rise.

One thing connected with this history which I found especially interesting follows: It was a universal custom (and still is in Catholic countries) to mark a new loaf of bread with the sign of the cross before cutting it, in order to bless it and thank God for it.  What a neat custom!

Weaving Memories & Prayers: Palm braiding traditions

We are most grateful to our Sr. Jean Louise for
her beautiful reflections shared below.

On Saturday morning before Holy Week, while waiting for penitents to come for confession, the pastor of Little Flower Parish in Rugby, Fr. Tom Graner, can be seen reaching into a long plastic bag to get another palm to braid.  He is making roses, pinecones and several other designs to decorate the altars and to give to the homebound and elderly whose fingers aren’t so nimble any longer. Fr. Tom told me he learned this from his late father; it is one of the connections he has with his father and his faith.  Their tradition included gathering up the old palms from last year, burning them in an old Crisco can, and spreading the ashes on the garden, which Dad would then proceed to turn over by forkfuls in preparation for planting.

One of the beautiful traditions of our Church is that of braiding the blessed palms after Mass on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is the day we commemorate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  Jesus had just raised his friend, Lazarus, from the dead; the people wanted to see Lazarus.  The next day they heard Jesus was coming into the city for the Passover so they met him. Jesus mounted the colt which the disciples had found for him, and rode into the city amid cheers of “Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David.  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!” (Gospel of John 12:12-16).  These blessed palms, which the faithful wave during the reading of the first Gospel at Palm Sunday Mass, are then taken home and placed in each room where they are cherished as sacramentals, which the  Catechism of the Catholic Church states (No. 1667) whereby ‘‘various occasions in life are rendered holy.”  Some people like to leave the palm branches long, to place behind the crucifixes in their home.  Other families braid them, even during the homily at Mass!  In our family, Mother always started the braid for each of us nine kids in the car on the drive home from Mass.  By the time the twelve miles were traversed, the palms were all braided and each child had a ‘pine cone’ for one of the rooms of our home.

I asked several people of the parish where I serve, St. Theresa the Little Flower of Rugby, about their palm braiding experiences.  One middle-aged woman told me “I struggle every year.  I want to braid them, but have trouble getting them started.”  Another younger, 30-something woman told me, “I love to do it, but I have to relearn again every year!”

One young grade-school boy made them to order for people, creating crosses, roses, and other delicate Christian symbols.  Now married, and the father of two children, I presume he is passing on the tradition to another generation of Catholics.  When I lived at the provincial house in Hankinson word got around that I liked to braid palms; one year I had more than 30 ‘orders’ to complete, for various German-born Sisters who were in charge of house-keeping in the convent and guest rooms.  In their native parishes of southern Bavaria, they used pussy willow branches on Palm Sunday morn to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem, so our tradition of palm braiding was not natural for them!

I discovered the palms can even be soaked in cold water in the bathtub overnight if one can’t get them all braided on Palm Sunday afternoon!

Various resources are available for learning to braid palms. There must be tutorials on YouTube!!  Have a blessed Holy Week and a glorious Easter!

Sister M. Jean Louise, OSF