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Mother's Day

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A celebratory cake.

Mother's Day is a holiday honoring mothers, celebrated (on various days) in many places around the world. Mothers often receive gifts on this day.

Mother's Day is a strange time of year for mail in many countries. In 1973, the U.S. Postal Service was held up for eight days because of the amount of mail. Telephone networks are also at their busiest on Mother's Day. Mother's Day is the number one holiday for flowers purchased throughout the year.

History

Different countries celebrate Mother's Day on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins. One school of thought claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Mother worship — which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of gods, and Rhea, the wife of Cronus — was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (March 15) to March 18.

In the United States, Mother's Day was originally conceived by social activist Julia Ward Howe during the American Civil War with a call to unite women against war. She wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation. In the United States, the day now simply celebrates motherhood and thanking mothers.

In most countries, Mother's Day is a new concept copied from western civilization. In many African countries, Mother's Day has its origins in copying the British concept. In most of East Asia, Mother's Day is a heavily marketed and commercialized concept copied straight from Mother's Day in the USA.

US origin

Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870, as a call for peace and disarmament. An excerpt follows:

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...

Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Anna Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.

When Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908, in the church where the elder Anna Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Grafton is the home to the International Mother's Day Shrine. From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by somes states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day. Nine years after the first official Mother's Day holiday, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. holidays.

Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday, commonly called "Mother's Day" in the United Kingdom, has no direct connection to the American practice. It falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent (typically March or early April). It is believed to have originated from the Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually, this meant that most families would be reunited on this day. Most historians believe that young apprentices and young women in servitude were released by their masters that weekend in order to visit their families[1].

Mother's Days in various parts of the world

Mothers' Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world. Examining the trends in Google searches for the term "mothers day" shows two major blips, the smaller one on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and the larger one on the first Sunday in May. [1]

second Sunday in February Norway
Shevat 30 (usually in February) Israel
March 3 Georgia
March 8 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, ((Ukraine)). The date coincides with the International Women's Day.
fourth Sunday in Lent (Mothering Sunday) (March 26 2006) Ireland, United Kingdom
March 21 (first day of spring) Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
April 7 Armenia
first Sunday in May Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain
May 8 South Korea, Albania (Parents' Day)
May 10 much of South America, India, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar
second Sunday in May Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados,Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Croatia, Curacao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Holland, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
May 26 Poland
May 27 Bolivia
May 30 Nicaragua
last Sunday in May Sweden, Dominican Republic, Haiti
last Sunday in May France (except if it coincides with Pentecost day, in which case Mother's Day will be shifted to the first Sunday of June)
August 12 Thailand (the birthday of Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara)
August 15 (Assumption Day) Antwerp (Belgium), Costa Rica
second or third Sunday in October Argentina (Día de la Madre)
last Sunday in November Russia
December 8 Panama
December 22 Indonesia
Varies Iran (The birthday of prophet Muhammad's daughter is considered Mother's Day, which is based on the Lunar calendar and consequently shifts in relation to the Christian calendar)

Mother's Day in various languages

  • (ar) : يوم الأمّ
  • (ber) : tameγra n tyemmat
  • (ch) : 母亲节 or 母親節
  • (hr) : Majčin dan
  • (cz) : Den Matek
  • (da) : Mors dag
  • (nl) : Moederdag
  • (de) : (Der) Muttertag
  • (el) : Γιορτή της Μητέρας
  • (et) : Emadepäev
  • (fa) : روز مادر
  • (fi) : Äitienpäivä
  • (fr) : (La) Fête des mères
  • (hu) : (Az) Anyák napja
  • (is) : Mæðradagur
  • (it) : (La) Festa della mamma
  • (ja) : 母の日 (Haha no Hi)
  • (lt) : Motinos diena
  • (bm) : Hari Ibu
  • (no) : Morsdag
  • (per) : روز مادر (Rouz-e Maadar)
  • (pl) : Dzień Matki
  • (pt) : (O) Dia da Mãe
  • (ro) : Ziua mamelor
  • (ru) : День Матери
  • (es) : Día de la Madre
  • (sk) : Deň matiek
  • (sl) : Materinski dan
  • (sv) : Mors dag
  • (sh) : Liepstacoq Bua
  • (ta) : Araw ng mga Ina/Nanay
  • (th) : วันแม่
  • (tr) : Anneler günü

See also

Mother's day in Muslim countries specially Shiaas' is the celebrated at the birthday of the prophet Mohammad's daughter, Fatemeh. This day which is also known as Women's day follows the lunar calendar and changes every year in solar calendars.

References