Mother’s Day is the perfect occasion to let your mother know how special she is and how much you love her and appreciate all she does for you. This year it falls on 27 March in Britain, but is celebrated across the globe at different times and in slightly different ways.
enthusiasm, but they have only been celebrating the day for just over a hundred years. It started in 1907 when a loving daughter, Anna Jarvis (right), held a memorial service for her late mother in her local church in West Virginia. She wanted the day to be a “very private acknowledgement of all a mother does for a family”.
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Ancient Greeks celebrated mother’s day in spring honoring Rhea, ‘mother of the gods’ by offering honey-cakes, flowers and drinks at dawn. The Romans also celebrated a mother Goddess, Cybele, every March as far back as 250BC. The Phrygians held a festival for Cybele, ges, a u the Great g n la In most for rd Mother o w the ith egins w of the b r e th mo er M. Gods. the lett D id ow Ancient you kn Egyptians celebrated this day
by honoring the goddess Isis, who was known as ‘mother of pharaohs’.
church for a special service.
In Britain during the Middle Ages the custom developed of allowing those who had moved away to visit their home parishes and their mothers on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter Sunday. Also called Mid-lent Sunday or Refreshment Sunday, a day of respite from fasting halfway through the penitential season of Lent. It is also nine months before 25 December.
This pilgrimage was apparently known as “going a-mothering”, and became something of a holiday event, with domestic servants traditionally given the day off to visit their own families as well as their mother church.
In the sixteenth century this became Mothering Sunday, originally an explicitly religious event with ‘mothering’ referring to the ‘mother church’. People would return to their mother
20th century developments
Different Traditions While Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Nigeria celebrate Mother’s Day the same day as Britain, like America, May seems to be the most popular month for the celebrations and gifts of cards, flowers and chocolate are common. Thailand, however, chooses 12 August. This is the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, who is regarded as mother to all Thai people. The morning starts by giving alms to the monks. Children kneel down before their mother to show their love and gratitude and present her with white jasmine flowers or garlands (a symbol of maternal love), in return mother
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7 February - 28 March 2022
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MOTHER’S DAY origins go back a long way. Festivals honouring mothers and mother goddesses date back to ancient times.
Anna then started a relentless letter campaign to drum up support to make it an s official celebration. a w y r’s Da After a long struggle of Mothe y a d lly a the day was origina yers and ra declared a national silent p brance. remem holiday in 1914 by the US government.
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A celebration of mothers
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Over the years the focus of the day became celebrating motherhood as the now common use of the name ‘Mother’s Day’ shows.
Today in America Mother’s Day is a national holiday held on the second Sunday in May and treated with a lot of
showers her blessings on them. Mother’s Day in Spain falls on 8 December. It has more of a religious significance and is associated with paying tribute to Mother Mary. French mothers are honoured with a cake, which resembles a bouquet of flowers. This is followed by a traditional family dinner. Churches in Mexico organize a special mass. This is followed with distribution of ‘tamales’ and ‘atole’, the traditional early-morning meal for all mothers, and the giving of gifts. In India each October, Hindus honor Durga, the goddess of mothers, during the 10-day festival known as Durga Puja. The celebration is thought to
Ironically Anna soon began to regret her efforts when she saw how commercialised the day had become. She spent many years filing lawsuits and waging battles, to have the holiday rescinded. One protest even led to her arrest for disturbing the peace, the charges were later dismissed. In 1944, aged 80, she was placed in a mental asylum and died four years later, alone and penniless. She never married or had any children. Not only did he not make any profit from Mother’s Day, she used up what money she had on trying to stop it.
date back to the sixteenth century and is considered both a religious ceremony and a time for family reunions. Perhaps the strangest tradition can be found in Serbia. Known as ‘Materitse’, ‘Materice’, on this day children creep up to their mother’s bedroom and tie her up, setting her free only when she gives them sweets and gifts. (Not sure how she does this while tied up!) Please don’t try this at home - I don’t want letters from lots of irate mums! Just stick to the traditional presents and spoiling mum routine, although my mum always said she thought every day should be mother’s day!
