Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Sept. 8th

Did you know that the Roman Catholic Church only celebrates three people's birthdays during the liturgical year? Jesus' birthday is celebrated on Christmas Day, the Virgin Mary's birthday is celebrated September 8th, and John the Baptist's birthday is celebrated on June 24th.

To celebrate Mary's birthday, my family made white cake topped with whipped-cream and blueberries to represent her purity. We then added a birthday candle and sang happy birthday to the Blessed Mother. We also decorated homemade paper party hats and made a paper chain as party decorations. Celebrating Mary's birthday with a birthday cake is a great way to help your children see their spiritual mother as approachable and a person with a birthday just like them. If you don't want to make a birthday cake, another fun and easy meal you can make instead is blueberry pancakes topped with whipped-cream and blueberries for breakfast.

A fun craft that we made, was construction paper "Baby Marys." We then added a heart with the "Hail Mary" prayer on our "Baby Marys." By incorporating this prayer into our craft, it provided us with a great opportunity to review and say the prayer with our children and also discuss that from the moment of Mary's conception she was blessed among all women, so as a new born baby she was already full of grace and blessed among all women too. Pray for us, Blessed Mother, as we celebrate you today!

Craft Materials and Finished product:

Birthday Party Celebration:

Blueberry pancakes with whipped-cream for breakfast!

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