ANNUNCIATION, the tidings brought by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of the incarnation of Christ.
Annunciation is also a festival, kept by the church on the 25th of March, in commemoration of these tidings.
In the Romish church, on this feast, the pope performs the ceremony of marrying or cloistering a certain number of maidens, who are presented to him in the church, clothed in white serge, and muffled up from head to foot: An officer stands by, with purses containing notes of fifty crowns for those who make choice of marriage, and notes of a hundred for those who chuse the veil.
Annunciation is likewise a title given by the Jews to part of the ceremony of the passover.