May is the month of Mary, and what better way to honor her than a May crowning? The month of May is a special time when we, as Catholics, honor Mary as queen of heaven and earth. Many Catholics will use this month to pray the rosary daily or offer up other various private devotions. One of the most popular traditions, of course, is to have a May crowning. Because Mary is our mother, we really enjoy doing this at home on Mother’s Day! If you plan on having a May crowning in your home, I’d love to share some tips on how to get started, as well as how our family loves to celebrate!
To start, you’ll need a statue of Mary and a crown. (This is the statue we have.) Typically, flowers are used for a crown, but you can use anything you have on hand. Think of a way to honor Mary as your crown her; for example, you could pray a rosary or even sing a Marian song, like the Ave Maria. Next, decide how you’ll celebrate after. You could have a full-blown party, or you keep it simple with a small cake or tea. You can have your crowning any day in the month of May you’d like!
For our family’s May crowning, we’ll place a crown of flowers on the statue of Mary in our backyard. Next, we’ll kneel and say a rosary. We follow this by celebrating with a rosary cake and ice cream! The kids love helping me make this cake, and it’s so simple. We use a boxed cake mix to keep things easy. After frosting the cake, we make a “rosary” on top by using blue M&M’s for the beads and Kit-Kat pieces for the cross.
That’s it! You can celebrate any way you’d like. You can even attend a May crowning at a local parish. Many churches have May crownings; some even have a processional. There’s really no right or wrong way to do this, so long as you’re honoring Mama Mary! Mary always leads us closer to her son. My mother had a very strong devotion to Mary, and one of the best gifts she ever gave me was a love for Mary.
Many Protestants feel that we worship Mary, but it’s important to note that we do NOT worship her. (That would be a sin!) We honor her as the mother of God, and we honor her yes to God. Mary reminds us to say yes to God, which is what sainthood is all about. When I see a statue of Mary, I think of her son. It reminds me to say yes to Jesus. So know that honoring Mary will only draw you closer to Christ. Ask her to pray for you, and she will lead you to Jesus.
I hope these tips have helped! If you have special devotions for May or more May crowning ideas, drop a comment below! God bless!
