Marian procession tips?

[Sponsa-Christi]

Hi all,

I got roped into coordinating a Marian procession for my local parish picnic (the weekend before the Assumption)! I have never organized a Marian procession before, and this isn't something the parish has a big tradition of doing. Does anyone have any tips, tricks, or best practices for pulling off a great procession? Thanks!

[Era Might]

Pray the Rosary?

[truthfinder]

Hi Sponsa! it's been a while.

While never organizing one myself, I've been in several processions. Like Era said, you could pray the Rosary, but this will just about always get side-tracked in some manner because the people at the front of the procession will be somewhere else in the prayers than the people at the back. So, if anyone has a megaphone that can always help. A Marian litany might work though.

Other things: have a statue of Mary with some statue bearers: you've probably got carreable sized Marian statue around - it should be pretty easy to build a platform (with some sort of safety mechanism that prevents the statue from toppling)

I've always loved singing the songs during the processions - have the choir together, and print off song booklets for everybody. One tip: either make these Marian hymns that everyone knows, or make sure you've got copies of the actual sheetmusic in the booklet, or no one will know what to sing. 

If it's a larger procession, make sure you've got everything squared with whatever city you're in re: zoning and bylaws.

 

Hope other's chime in - I'm attending a Corpus Christi procession tomorrow, so if I learn anything from that, I'll come back an add it. 

[DominicanHeart]

I'm a big Procession lover. Definitely say the Rosary and sing! And really advertise so people will come!!