Fritz von Uhde was Protestant, but this Catholic May procession caught his attention. And it is May, isn't it — the trees along the boulevard are leafed out. I can't tell if it is First Communion morning or the May Crowning procession, which would have included the parish's First Communicants. If it was First Communion morning the procession would surely be more formal—hands folded, looking straight ahead, no talking.
And it's either just starting to rain or the rain is letting up. One girl in the procession is walking under an umbrella. Are the adults in the crowd opening or closing umbrellas? Either way, the rain doesn't seem to have spoiled the day. The altar boys in red cassocks and surplices are struggling against the wind with banners on tall poles. One woman in the forefront is holding on to the brim of her straw hat. It's a happy day which seems to have brought out everyone. We see in the bottom left corner, someone has even brought the family dog along.
I'm pleased for anything that causes me to remember my own First Communion Day: the white, blue-lined chasuble the pastor wore with the embroidered picture of Mary on the back. And that there were long kneelers inside the sanctuary, beyond the rail, where we knelt to receive Communion in groups of about twelve. Boys wore wide, white bows on their left arms with a gold stamped chalice and host.
Thinking about that white ribbon-bow now sixty-six years later. No one explained anything about it; it seems to have been just part of the required costume. But I am thinking about it now and why it was/is meaningful — May I be all tied up in the things of Christ — bound up in the loveliness of Christ's teaching.
