Ways to Celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation: Living Liturgically with Waffles, Carnations, and Prayer

I began digging (via Google) into ways to celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation as a little family and happily discovered traditions I had never heard of before. With our son being 14 months old now and wanting to be increasingly intentional about living liturgically as a family, I have been trying to create new and cultivate old traditions for the liturgical calendar within our home. So, as I searched a bit into ways the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation around the world, I was pleasantly surprised to find one tradition from Sweden that we will be adopting as a family alongside a couple we are creating ourselves. In a word: waffles.

In Sweden, the Solemnity of the Annunciation is called Vårfrudagen, which means “Our Lady’s Day”. It is very close to their word Våffeldagen, which means "waffle day". Bceause of the similarity of the words and the pun that developed between the two, Catholics and Lutherans alike have been celebrating Our Lady's Day by feasting on delicious waffles on March 25th dating all the way back to the 17th century.

This was an easy and fun tradition to pluck for our own home. I can't wait for the years to come, beginning with this year, to celebrate Vårfrudagen with Våffeldagen! (if you're in a pinch or just don't desire to make your waffles from scratch, you can run to your local Trader Joe's like us and snag some frozen blueberry or belgian waffles for just a couple bucks!)

The next tradition we are introducing into our home is liturgical flowers. This is something I remember so distinctly from my time in Carmel. For every special solemnity or feast, the Sister in charge of the flowers throughout the monastery and chapel would assemble the most beautiful, liturgically fitting bouquets of flowers. The colors or symbols of the flowers would speak of the meaning of the feast, and the fresh fragrance wafted through the halls and chapel every time they were swapped out for a fresh bunch.

Taking this into my own homemaking life, I love trying to fill our home with flowers that fit both the season and the feast days. Trader Joe's is my go to for affordable florals, and I usually just grab one or two little bunches to mix together. This alone serves as enough to have a larger vase on our table, a small bunch next my statue of Mary in the kitchen, and a medium sized vase in our living room on the high coffee table. For this particular Solemnity, my floral assembly is carnations and baby's breath. I decided on carnations to symbolize the incarnation, and specifically deep red carnations because the eternal Word took on our flesh and blood. Then I bought one small bunch of baby's breath to sprinkle throughout each vase, as baby's breath is not only a symbol of the Holy Spirit, but also to honor Mary receiving within her her own little baby, so small, so delicate, and in the same breath the Lord of lords and her God. (see the instagram post for a visual of the flowers and waffles).

Lastly, prayer. Needless to say this is the most important aspect of celebrating any feast day. It doesn't mean as much to decorate ourselves or our homes liturgically if our hearts aren't actually drawn nearer to the Heart of Christ in these great mysteries. So what will we be doing as a family? First, Mass. Nothing can compare to the power of one Mass. There is no greater way to unite ourselves to Jesus, to give thanks, to petition the Lord. So we'll start with some daily Mass to celebrate the Solemnity, and then hope to close out the evening with a candlelit, scriptural Rosary meditating on the great and yet hidden moment of the Incarnation of the Son of God within the womb of our Blessed Mother, through her fiat.

I hope these three simple ideas can inspire you and your family as you seek to live more deeply in the traditions of the Church, and draw your family deeper into the Heart and love of Jesus Christ given to us in all of these mysteries of our faith.

I pray you have a blessed Solemnity, and if you decide to do any of these little traditions because you read this, please snag a photo and tag @quiminimo on Instagram so I can see!