I can't believe I forgot! Did you remember? No you probably didn't. September 8th is the birthday of Mary. That is Mary the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Theotokos. Perhaps you have read the Gospels and the New Testament and you are asking, "How do we know that September 8th is the birthday of Mary?"
From apocryphal and spurious writings the church does not and has never considered to be part of the canon of scripture of course. The quick run down is that after much prayer childless Anna and Joachim gave birth to Mary, put her in the temple because she manifested great sanctity at the age of 3, and then at 12 she was betrothed to an old widower named Joseph.
Any sincere Orthodox believer will tell you that we do not know these thing from apocryphal books but from tradition. Well you know how I know that September 8th is Mary's birthday? Because at the store there is a huge statue of Mary where people can genuflect and it has been decked out with balloons and even a birthday card!
I don't know about you but I think this is pretty crass. A birthday card? Balloons? Look at those balloons surrounding the crucifix. It's so incongruous it makes you scoff, "Are you kidding?"
I do not believe I have ever seen anything comparable to this display. Not even at Christmas time have I ever seen "Happy Birthday Jesus" banners or cards or balloons. In fact most Christmas celebrations seem to not centre around Jesus at all. But with Mary everyone loses their mind and goes all out in their devotion to the Queen of Heaven.
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