An unexpected announcement that changed young Mary’s plans. She was already engaged to Joseph when she received from the angel the news that she was going to be the Saviour’s mother. But between the announcement and the birth of Jesus there is a crucial moment in Joseph and Mary’s lives: the wedding celebration! In front of the city of Nazareth’s ruins we can imagine the family preparations for the wedding by the customs of the time. The keeper and rector of the Basilica of the Annunciation, Fr. Bruno Varriano, described in his book “Mary, mother of Humanity” how this time of expectation for the life of the couple might have been, based on Jewish tradition. Fr. BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Keeper and Rector of the Basilica of the Annunciation - Nazareth “We know that, according to Jewish tradition the engagement would last one year. The betrothed could not have any contact with the bride-to-be. He could only see her from afar, they could not meet. There was also the struggle of Mary’s pregnancy. How to explain that after three months, on her return from Saint Elizabeth’s house in Ain Karen, she was pregnant?” Those were moments that tested Joseph. But after the announcement in a dream, the angel asked him not to be afraid and to accept Mary as his bride. Within the project of salvation, Joseph gives up his youth, living in chastity, and contributes to God’s project for human kind. At that point it was time to prepare the house and the celebration! Fr. BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Keeper and rector of the Basilica of the Annunciaton - Nazareth “The month of Adar was the month of wedding. A proverb said:’When Adar comes Israel fills with joy!’. So we can imagine the joy of this small village of Nazareth the day of the wedding, when Mary in all her beauty, wearing the veil, welcomed his groom Joseph and they came to live together in this house where we are now, here in the house of the Holy Family”. The entire local community would participate to the Jewish ceremony, rich in symbolism and rituals, to be engraved in everyone’s memory. Fr. BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Keeper and Rector of the Basilica of the Annunciation - Nazareth “Everybody wore their best clothes and they entered the room praising the bride for her beauty. They would quote the Old Testament. The town elders covered their heads with white veils as a symbol of superiority, a sign that the elders were respected and listened to. The day of the wedding children received sweets with honey and nuts because that was a day that everyone needed to remember. The groom would offer a present to the bride, a very significant present. And everyone would want to know what it was, how much it was and how much did the groom love the bride”. Joseph and Mary’s wedding had the objective of the project of salvation. In the words of Saint Bonaventure, God wanted to enter humanity through common means, a father and a mother. After the unforgettable celebration, the bride and groom went home. In the Basilica’s complex there is the St. Joseph’s Church built between 1911 and 1914, where the Holy Family’s house used to be. Further down there is the crypt, most probably Jesus’s putative father’s workshop, and on an even lower level, there are the ruins of a sort of kitchen or pantry. An environment shrouded in divine love expressed through human love Read More