CELEBRATING MOTHERS

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.

A celebration of mothers

MOTHER’S DAY origins go

back a long way. Festivals honouring mothers and mother goddesses date back to ancient times.

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, the Great Mother of the Gods. Ancient Egyptians Did you know? In most languages, the word for mother begins with the letter M. celebrated this day by honoring the goddess Isis, who was known as ‘mother of pharaohs’.

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.

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 church for a special service.

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.

Over the years the focus of the day became celebrating motherhood as the now common use of the name ‘Mother’s Day’ shows.

20th century developments

Today in America Mother’s Day is a national holiday held on the second Sunday in May and treated with a lot of

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”. Anna then started a relentless letter campaign to drum up support to make it an Did you know? Mother’s Day was originally a day of silent prayers and remembrance. official celebration. After a long struggle the day was declared a national holiday in 1914 by the US government. 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.

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 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 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!