Mary Was a Corn Shucker
During slavery the corn shucking festival happened at harvest time.
Slaves from multiple plantations were brought together by their masters to strip a mountain of corn ears. This made economic sense for the masters. The slaves made something joyful and holy out of it.
The slaves divided into two competing teams and made a game of being forced to shuck the corn. There’d be songs, jokes, laughter, and more songs.
When corn mountain was no more, the slaves shared a banquet. Afterwards, they hoisted the slave master into the air and mocked him. (Under the cover of playful songs, the slaves could tell the truth about the evil which owned their bodies.)
Then there was, you guessed it, more dancing and singing. Finally, the slaves would head back to their plantations singing and playing themselves down the road.
In the stranglehold of oppression, when a better world must have seemed impossible, the corn shucking ritual gave slaves a way to remember themselves as human beings and call for a better world.
Mary does this with her song, The Magnificat. Mary is a young woman, a powerless member of a powerless people possessing nothing but a proud history.
And yet…
When pregnant Mary goes to Elizabeth’s house for a visit, she sings like a corn shucker about a better world which seemed impossible but was, nonetheless, being made real by God through Christ:
The Lord has performed mighty deeds with his arm / and scattered those who are proud / The Lord has brought down rulers from their thrones / but has lifted up the humble / The Lord has filled the hungry with good things / but has sent the rich away empty
Do we sing and play with the shuckers, with Mary?
Honestly, most of us really don’t.
Slaves from multiple plantations were brought together by their masters to strip a mountain of corn ears. This made economic sense for the masters. The slaves made something joyful and holy out of it.
The slaves divided into two competing teams and made a game of being forced to shuck the corn. There’d be songs, jokes, laughter, and more songs.
When corn mountain was no more, the slaves shared a banquet. Afterwards, they hoisted the slave master into the air and mocked him. (Under the cover of playful songs, the slaves could tell the truth about the evil which owned their bodies.)
Then there was, you guessed it, more dancing and singing. Finally, the slaves would head back to their plantations singing and playing themselves down the road.
In the stranglehold of oppression, when a better world must have seemed impossible, the corn shucking ritual gave slaves a way to remember themselves as human beings and call for a better world.
Mary does this with her song, The Magnificat. Mary is a young woman, a powerless member of a powerless people possessing nothing but a proud history.
And yet…
When pregnant Mary goes to Elizabeth’s house for a visit, she sings like a corn shucker about a better world which seemed impossible but was, nonetheless, being made real by God through Christ:
The Lord has performed mighty deeds with his arm / and scattered those who are proud / The Lord has brought down rulers from their thrones / but has lifted up the humble / The Lord has filled the hungry with good things / but has sent the rich away empty
Do we sing and play with the shuckers, with Mary?
Honestly, most of us really don’t.