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| Folks have funny ways to imagine the Expectation |
This is one of the score or so feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(BVM). This particular one is the Feast of the Expectation (Expectatio
Partus) of the BVM. It should follow the Feast of the Annunciation, of
course, but the placement on the calendar has been a little tricky. It
was originally March 25, but for a while there was a prohibition of
feasts during Lent. It was therefore moved to December 18. The
prohibition was lifted, and now it is celebrated on both days -- in
Spain, at least, where an excuse for a party is gladly embraced.
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| Oooooooooooooooo! |
Our Lady of the O is a real liturgical
alternative name for the feast. It sounds a little inappropriate, at
least to me, but I tend to drift toward the inappropriate anyway. And
while it isn't sacrilegious or profane at all, it has a curious and
comic origin. At the end of vespers on the Feast of the Expectation,
monks used to chant a protracted, plaintive O to signify the desire of
the universe to receive the Christ.
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