The Protoevangelion, a second century apocryphal text which has been treated as though it were part of the canon of scripture since at least the third century, provides us with much of the biographical information we have on the early life of the Theotokos – her later life is recorded in another, later source called the Six Books.
According to the legend – Mary is born to Joachim and Anna. Their lack of children has caused the couple great distress (the local priest was not very helpful either – “You are not allowed to offer our gifts first because you haven’t produced an Israelite child” (PJ 1.5)). Joachim takes himself off into the wilderness fasting and seeking a sign, and Anna sits in her garden lamenting her situation: “Poor me! What am I like? I am not like the birds of the sky, because even the birds of the sky reproduce in your presence, O Lord.” (PJ 3.4)
An Angel appears before her, and echoing the Annunciation, and paralleling Sarah’s giving birth to Isaac: “Anna, Anna, the Lord God has heard your prayer. You will conceive and give birth, and your child will be talked abot all over the world.” (PJ 4.1)
Anna dedicates the child then and there to the Lord, and when Mary is born, Anna takes careful measures to ensure her daughter’s purity: “When she was six months old, her mother put her on the ground to see if she could stand. She walked seven steps and went to her mother’s arms. Then her mother picked her up and said, ‘As the Lord my god lives, you will never walk on this ground again until I take you into the temple of the Lord.’ And so she turned her bedroom into a sanctuary and did not permit anything profane or unclean to pass the child’s lips. She sent for the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews, and they kept her amused.” (PJ 6.2-5)
At age three Mary was escorted to the temple surrounded by virgins carrying lamps: “so the child won’t turn back and have her heart captivated by things outside the Lord’s temple.” (PJ 7.5) The priest welcomed her, blessed her and placed her before the altar where she danced.
From the start then Mary was dedicated to a life of virginity, and linked to the Temple sanctuary – the dwelling place of the Lord. According to the legend she lived in the sanctuary itself, and was fed by an angel.
It makes sense that shortly after the beginning of the liturgical new year we start to see feasts celebrating the beginning of the Christian story.
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