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Mother's Day

Mother's Day - background information

History

People in different countries celebrate Mother's Day on different 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 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). The Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.

In the United States, Mother's Day was copied from England by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. Howe wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation. In the UK, the day now simply celebrates motherhood and thanking mothers. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.    


US history

Main article: Mother's Day (United States)

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 out 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 Reeve Jarvis, a young West Virginia 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.

In parts of the United States it is customary to plant tomatoes outdoors after mother's day (and not before.)

When Jarvis died, her daughter, 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 Andrews Methodist Episcopal (now United Methodist) Church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Grafton is the home to the International Mother's Day Shrine. The 1912 General Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church, at the suggestion of delegates from Andrews M.E. Church, recognized Jarvis as the founder and advocated the celebration of the holiday. From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honour of those mothers whose sons had died in war. 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.

British history - Mothering Sunday

Main article: Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday, commonly called "Mothers' Day" in the United Kingdom, has no direct connection to the American practice. It falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent (exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday). It is believed to have originated from the 16th Century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually, which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children 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. As a result of secularisation, it is now principally used to celebrate and give thanks for mothers, although it is still recognized in the historical sense by some churches, with attention paid to Mary the mother of Jesus as well as the traditional concept 'mother church'.

Mother's Days in various parts of the world

The definition used in this table allows "Womens day" to be treated the same as "Mothers Day".

Mother's 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 second Sunday in May.


Second Sunday in February Norway
Shevat 30 (falls anywhere between January 30 and March 1) Israel
March 3 Georgia
March 8 Afghanistan, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Laos, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania*, Slovenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Vietnam* Russia*. This is officially termed International Women's Day * In Vietnam, Romania, and Russia it is observed as International Womens Day, not specifically Mothers day.
Fourth Sunday in Lent (Mothering Sunday - March 18 in 2007) Ireland, United Kingdom, Nigeria
March 21 (first day of spring) Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen* Large parts of the population in these countries have refrained from celebrating Mothers Day referring to it as a secular tradition having no ties with Islam.
April 20 Armenia
First Sunday in May Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain
May 8 South Korea, Albania (Parents' Day).
May 10 Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Oman
Second Sunday in May
see: Mother's Day (United States)
Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Croatia, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Bulgaria, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, St. Lucia, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe , Pakistan
May 26 Poland
May 27 Bolivia
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), Dominican Republic, Haiti, Sweden, Morocco, Algeria.
May 30 Nicaragua
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)
Second Monday in October Malawi
Last Sunday of November Russia
December 8 Panama
December 22 Indonesia
20th Jumada al-thani (also called Women's Day) Iran and other Muslim sects, especially Shias. The date is the (disputed) birthday of Fatima Zahra. The Islamic calendar is lunar so it cycles relative to the Western calendar.

Source :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother's_Day