Mother’s Day

What is Mother’s Day?

Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate mothers.  Usually, mothers receive a day off of work, little presents such as flowers from their family, and a nice breakfast in bed.

Where does Mother’s Day come from?

The ancient Greeks originally celebrated Mother’s Day to honor the Goddess Hera, the mother of Zeus.  While this tradition died out with the fall of the Greek Empire, it was carried on in other cultures.

Although it is not evident that this Greek tradition made it all the way to England, in the 13^th century, “Mothering Day” was introduced into England by Heinrich III.  On this day, all Christians went to Church with their family and commemorated the “Mother Church”.  At the beginning of the 19^th century, Napoleon planned to found another form of Mother’s Day in France, but never followed through.

The Mother’s Day that we celebrate today comes from America, specifically from Julia Ward Howe, a famous woman’s rights activist.  Howe founded Mother’s Day to honor the hard work that Mother’s do, but that goes by unnoticed. Anna Jarvis (also a feminist) prevailed with the proposal in 1914 and chose the anniversary of her own mother's death (9 May) as the date.

How important is Mother’s Day?

For many mother’s, is mother’s day not really a big deal.  Flowers and breakfast in bed is nice, but Mother’s Day has become more a day about being together as a family than anything else. 

Where and when is Mother’s Day celebrated?

Mother’s Day is actually celebrated all over the world, only on different dates:

·         Great Britain: 4^th day of lent

·         Lithuania, Hungary, Portugal, South Africa, Spain: 1^st Sunday in May

·         Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brasil, Denmark, Finland, Italy, USA, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan, Turkey: 2nd Sunday in May

·         Most of South and Central America, Mexico, Bahrain, China, India, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Katar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates: May 10^th

·         Poland: May 26^th

·         France and Sweden: Last Sunday in May

·         Norway: 1^st Sunday in February

·         Albania: March 8^th

·         Libanon: 1^st Day of Spring

·         Thailand: August 12^th

·         Costa Rica: August 15^th

·         Argentinia: 2^nd Sunday in October