For many centuries, Catholics around the world have been celebrating Mary in the month of May. Although many people are still aware of this, they might not know exactly why or have a clear idea of how to celebrate. Join us as we explain the origins of this Marian month and share 10 tips on how to honor her!
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Why Do We Celebrate Mary in the Month of May?
It may seem like the Church randomly picks months to celebrate different things or to honor certain devotions. Even if the reasons are not immediately clear, however, the Catholic Church in her great wisdom did not choose Mary as the patroness of this month at random. It was done to combat the pagan beliefs surrounding Christian people at that time.
In ancient pagan cultures, May is the month when all things are growing. People would pray to a female goddess who was in charge of all living things in hopes that their crops would be abundant.
The Church Christianized the pagan practice by honoring Mary in May because she is the new mother of all the living. She is the mother that bears great fruit—her Divine Son! And through His Crucifixion, she becomes our Mother, the Mother of the Church, pouring forth graces from her Son to give us abundant new life with Him forever!
Mary’s Feast Days in May
Within the month of May, there are many different feasts to celebrate Mary which have been added over time. Most are not major feasts and therefore we are not required to celebrate them, but it is still a wonderful practice to incorporate these feasts into our daily life. Here is a list of feasts to celebrate Mary in the month of May:
- May 1st: Our Lady, Queen of the May
- May 5th: Our Lady, Queen of Apostles
- May 7th: The Seven Joys of Mary
- May 9th: Our Lady of Loreto
- May 13th: Our Lady of Fatima
- May 17th: Our Lady of Tears
- May 20th: Mary, Mother of the Church (in 2024—this feast moves with Easter)
- May 24: Our Lady, Help of Christians
- May 31: The Visitation
Instead of celebrating every Marian feast, we often choose just a few to celebrate Our Lady in the month of May each year. This year we are celebrating Our Lady of Fatima, Mary, Mother of the Church, Our Lady, Help of Christians, and the Visitation.
10 Tips on Celebrating Mary in the Month of May
With all these feasts, there are almost limitless ways to celebrate Our Lady in the month of May.
1. Have A Procession
This is super fun and great to do with children of all ages! You can do this just as a family or you can invite friends to join you. When we first received our outside statue of Mary, we processed around our yard and placed her in her resting place. One person can carry a cross to lead the procession, another can carry a statue or picture of Our Lady, some can carry candles, and others can carry flowers. You can all sing a Marian hymn together as you process!
2. Crown Mary As Queen
Crowning Our Lady as Queen of the May and Our Queen Mother is a practice often seen in parishes during May. But you can do it in your domestic church, too: your home! This could be coupled with a procession or done as an activity all on its own. You can buy a crown or make one from paper or flowers.
3. Pray the Rosary
May is a great month to say the Rosary, especially as a family. That being said, saying a Rosary as a growing family can be very challenging: kids might mess up the prayers or have trouble sitting still, or worse, distract everyone by doing something like wrestling on the floor, much to their amusement and your frustration… (Do we sound like we’ve been through this before?) It can be really chaotic. If you have small children, I would recommend saying just one decade of the Rosary together as a family. And if you are really desperate, just say a Hail Mary together. Our Lady understands what you are going through—she is a parent too!
4. Display An Image of Mary
Whether you have a home altar or not (I would recommend making one if you don’t!), you should consider displaying an image of Our Lady during May. It can be as simple as a prayer card depicting Mary or as extravagant as a big framed picture. Do what you can. As a part of our home altar, we have a picture of Mary with her Immaculate Heart. If you don’t have any pictures of Mary, you can easily print out photos from the Internet to put up. You could even do a different picture for every Marian feast during May!
5. Plant A Mary Garden
Place an outdoor Mary statue in a garden area and plant different Marian flowers around it. You might not have realized it, but many flowers used to have different names in medieval times, many of which are related to Our Lord and Our Lady. For example, Daffodils are also known as “Mary’s Star”!
Another option, if you don’t have an outside statue of Mary (they are rather expensive), is to plant a flower garden and then cut flowers from it throughout the spring and summer to decorate your home, especially near a statue or image of Mary. You could also use them to decorate your home altar.
6. Learn About Mary’s Colors
Our Lady is typically depicted in blue—you can read why here. Sometimes you will also see her in blue and white, just white, or blue and red. This can be a great teaching and learning experience for your family, since there is so much symbolism behind the colors used in the Catholic tradition. Do some research and enrich your understanding of Catholic artwork!
7. Decorate Your Home
Once you’ve learned about Mary’s colors, you can decorate your home with them!
8. Consecrate Your Family to Mary
Consider consecrating yourself to Mary during May. St. Louis de Montfort was a great proponent of Marian Consecration with his book True Devotion to Mary. His teachings are profound, but the language can be kind of hard to understand. There are other works that are more readable but just as solid: you could try Total Consecration Through the Mysteries of the Rosary or 33 Days to Morning Glory. This is something you can do on your own, with your spouse, and even as a whole family! My family did this together every year for a long time and through it Our Lady has bestowed special graces on our family.
9. Sing a Marian Hymn
There are many, many Marian hymns and songs, some very ancient and some new. A few well-known hymns are “Sing of Mary”, “Immaculate Mary”, and “Hail, Holy Queen”. You could also try “O Sanctissima” and “Bring Flowers of the Rarest.” You might want to try the four Marian antiphons associated with different seasons in the liturgical year: the “Salve Regina”, the “Regina Caeli”, the “Ave Regina Caelorum”, and the “Alma Redemptoris Mater”. If you want, you could organize a mini concert to honor Mary! Invite friends and family and perform some of these songs either vocally or instrumentally.
10. Read a Book About Mary
Saints and theologians throughout the ages have written countless books about Mary. During the month of May when we are already celebrating Our Lady, it is wonderful to learn more about her and to draw close to her as she draws us closer to her Son. Here are some books we recommend reading:
- The Bible – especially the beginning chapters of the Gospel of Luke
- The World’s First Love by Fulton J. Sheen
- The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori
- Behold Your Mother by Tim Staples
- Hail Holy Queen by Scott Hahn
- “May Magnificat” by Gerard Manly Hopkins (poem)
- “The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe” by Gerard Manly Hopkins (poem)
Let Our Lady Guide You
During this time of honoring Mary during the month of May, let her guide you in your prayer life and in the everyday hubbub. She ardently desires to bring you closer to God and cares for you as her own child. As St. Louis de Montfort says, “to Jesus, through Mary.”
Mary, our dearest Mother, pray for us!
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