As a mother, I had the priveledge of seeing my sweet daughter receive Jesus in her First Holy Communion.At the request of a friend, I am posting my explanation about girls attire at First Communion to my blog. Enjoy.
I looked up a "forum" where someone asked, "Why do all the girls at First Communion Mass dress like little brides?" And the answer was, "They don't. They dress like First Communicants."
So that leaves us with, why do First Communicants dress in white dresses and veils? The white dress would be in line with the white garment worn at baptism symbolizing a new creation, made pure by Christ's sacrifice for us. In addition, similar symbolism to a bride at her wedding who is pure and blameless before her husband, a girl at her First Communion (and boys in white shirts) are presenting themselves as the "bride of Christ to their bridegroom" again pure and spotless. Why the dress is fancy is simply that we wear our finest clothes to meet for the first time the King of Kings in the Eucharist. Would he accept someone before him in ragged old clothes? Of course. But since we can, we choose to wear our best.
The veil is simply a headcovering, from the long ago practice of women wearing something to cover their heads at church. (Which I think in some parts of history women wore something to cover their heads to leave their houses at all). Women today still wear headcoverings in parts of the world - our American culture isn't as into it. However, there are some women even at my church who wear veils over their heads (called mantillas - spanish for "mantle"). They are pretty little lace coverings that lay right on the head and droop down to the shoulders. Why did they or do they sometimes still wear them? It is a sign of respect and humility and reverence - again for being in the presence of our Lord in the Eucharist. In addition, a sign of modesty.
Turns out it isn't just a Catholic thing - although most commonly found in Catholic churches both in history and now - but some Protestants wear them in certain traditions as is their way of living out 1 Corinthians 13.
These kinds of events are often blown out of proportion in our wealthy culture - huge parties, hundreds upon hundred of dollars spent on dresses, girls being treated like a queen for the day, expensive gifts lavished upon them, etc. Good ol' USA. (But really, I love my country).
While it is neat that there is this "rite of passage" in their lives, it shouldn't be just that. It is a sacred event.
However, with that said, it is also our culture that finds it difficult sometimes to see the beauty of the tradition, and our Faith is steeped in history with 2,000 years of practices and traditions influencing why we do things the way we do them.
Now I should go and research why a bride wears a veil. Next project.
