MONTH OF MARY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1939, Page 5

MONTH OF MARY

OBSERVANCES IN FRANCE. “PREMIERE COMMUNION.” May is the month of Mary, and if it brings with it blue skies in France and the first warm promise of coming summer it brings also the confirmation of thousands of children and' fills town and city and village with one of the prettiest of sights. Confirmation, “Premiere Communion,” is a highly important event in family life in France, when the little “communiants” are surrounded by their parents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and often grandparents, who that day will go to church to see their grandchildren confirmed even if they have to be carried there. The streets of towns and villages, during the whole month of May, are dotted with the figures of little girls in long white dresses, their heads covered with long veils, like little brides, and with white shoes that “like little mice, steal in and out” beneath the hem. Every little girl in France looks forward to this great day in her young life. Her brother, if he also is doing his “Premiere Communion,” is generally dressed in a sailor suit, with longblue navy trousers, a white blouse, and whether so attjred or just in a brand new suit, on his left arm he wears a white knotted scarf, tied with a bow, between the shoulder and the elbow and hanging with a long fringe down to the cuff. With the children, mother, father, brothers and sisters, god-par-ents, uncles and aunts walk proudly behind. When the church is reached, the little girls on one side and the little boys on the other, fill the seats of the nave, with parents and relations in the side aisles, casting glances of admiration on their offspring, a smile, sometimes a tear brushed hastily away. When the service is over, the little girls in their white dresses ■ and the little boys with their white emblems come flocking out of the church on their way home, with generally a stop at the photographer’s, who is a busy man that day. Either in the home or at a fashionable restaurant, the whole family sits down'to a copious meal, and aunts and uncles, met together on this rare occasion, exchange family hews and souvenirs of the days when they too went to their “Premiere Communion.”

On this day the children receive a number of presents, prominent among them prayer books with white ivory covers or long chains with medals bearing the effigy of some preferred saint. For the little girls it is indeed a great day, the first time they wear a real, magnificent dress that almost touches the ground, and they walk about proudly like little white queens. The boys often appear embarrassed, but both hold the place of honour in the family gathering that ends the great day.