The Gospel of Mary - Chapter 10

Pht. Sleep. What is that?

So...the story picks up when it is time to make a new veil for the temple. The priests call for the undefiled virgins of the house of David and Zacharias includes Mary as one of them. By this point Mary has been wed to Joseph for several years, so it's odd that Zacharias counts her as a virgin still, right? That bit gets sort of cleared up a little later on, but we'll get there. At this point, it's enough to note that Mary, though wed and living in Joseph's house is still counted as a virgin by the priests of the temple.

Lots were cast as to which virgin would weave which colors and it fell to Mary to weave the scarlet and the true purple. I'm not sure how much you might remember about colors and what they mean (and the meaning can vary from culture to culture too) but scarlet tends to be associated with sacrifice because it's the color of blood. I know, it's a stretch, but there you are. Shocking, really. :) And purple is a royal color. It was difficult and expensive to make and so it was restricted not only to the rich, but to those who were royalty or gods (or both, depending on the mythology of the society) to set them apart.

The last line of this chapter notes that it was at this time that Zacharias fell silent. This Zacharias is the father of St. John the Forerunner, so we know that this is when he was struck silent by the angel for doubting that his wife would conceive as they had been told. Which makes it six months until the conception of Jesus.

eta: AH haahaahaaaaaaaa....I just went out to put my cup in the sink and my sister was all, 'WHY ARE YOU STILL UP? IT'S PAST YOUR BEDTIME!' :)