Mother's Day
Encyclopedia
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May. It complements Father's Day
, the celebration honoring fathers.
Celebrations of mothers and motherhood occur throughout the world; many of these can be traced back to ancient festivals, like the Greek cult to Cybele
or the Roman festival of Hilaria
. The modern US holiday is not directly related to these.
" by Julia Ward Howe
. Written in 1870, it was a pacifist
reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War
and the Franco-Prussian War
. The Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.
In the years after the Mother's Day Proclamation, Ann Jarvis founded five Mothers' Day Work Clubs to improve sanitary and health conditions. In 1907, two years after Ann Jarvis' death, her daughter Anna Jarvis
held a memorial for her mother and began a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the US. Although she was successful in 1914, she was already disappointed with its commercialization by the 1920s.
This is also the spelling used by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in the law making official the holiday in the U.S., by the U.S. Congress on bills, and by other U.S. presidents on their declarations.
Common usage in English language also dictates that the ostensibly singular possessive "Mother's Day" is the preferred spelling, although "Mothers' Day" (plural possessive) or "Mothers Day" (plural non-possessive) are sometimes used.
celebration of the presentation of Jesus Christ to the temple (2 February). In some countries it was changed to dates that were significant to the majority religion, like the Virgin Mary day in Catholic countries, or the birthday of the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad
in Islamic countries. Other countries changed it to historical dates, like Bolivia using the date of a certain battle where women participated. See the "International history and traditions" section for the complete list.
Note: Countries that celebrate the International Women's Day
instead of Mother's Day are marked with a dagger
'†'.
Some countries already had existing celebrations honoring motherhood, and their celebrations have adopted several external characteristics from the US holiday, like giving carnations and other presents to your own mother.
The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture (compare the celebrations of Diwali
in the UK and the United States).
Virgin Mary.
In Hindu
tradition it is called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" or "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight", and it is celebrated in countries with Hindu population, especially in Nepal. It is celebrated on the new moon day in the month of Baisakh, i.e., April/May. This holiday is based in Hindu religion and it pre-dates the creation of the Western-inspired holiday by at least a few centuries.
Some Islamic scholars have published fatwas
against dedicating a single day to honor mothers, which detracts from honoring them year round as ordered by the Quran.
by European powers.
but he eventually accepted it and Mother's Day was first celebrated on 21 March 1956. The practice has since been copied by the other Arab countries.
When Mustafa Amin was arrested and imprisoned, there were attempts to change the name of the holiday from "Mother's Day" to "Family Day" as the government wished to prevent the occasion from reminding people of its founder. These attempts were unsuccessful and celebrations continued to be held on that day; classic songs celebrating mothers remain famous to this day.
, Mother's Day was celebrated on 12 June 2010, on the second Saturday in June.
the Virgin Mary festivity was moved to 1 January). Around 1982, the national merchants asked that it was moved to the third Sunday of October, in order to reactivate the sales of the second half of that month.
The tradition of gift giving to mothers on Mother's Day in Australia was started by Mrs Janet Heyden, a resident of Leichhardt Sydney, in 1924. She began the tradition during a visit to a patient at the Newington State Home for Women, where she met many lonely and forgotten mothers. To cheer them up, she rounded up support from local school children and businesses to donate and bring gifts to the women. Every year thereafter, more support was raised by Mrs Heyden with local businesses and even the local Mayor. The day has since become commercialized. Traditionally, the Chrysanthemum
is given to mothers for mother's day as the flower is naturally in season during Autumn and ends in 'mum', the Australian slang for a mother.
. It commemorates the Battle of Coronilla, which took place on 27 May 1812, during the Bolivian War of Independence, in what is now the city of Cochabamba
. In this battle, women fighting for the country's independence were slaughtered by the Spanish army. It's not a festive day, but all schools make activities and festivities during this day. "Ma Dibos"
The first Mother's Day in the country was promoted by Associação Cristã de Moços de Porto Alegre
(Young Men's Christian Association of Porto Alegre), on 12 May 1918. In 1932, the then-President Getulio Vargas made official the date on the second Sunday of May. In 1947, Archbishop Jaime de Barros Chamber, Cardinal-Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, determined that this date was also included in the official calendar of the Catholic Church.
It's considered an unofficial holiday (see Public holidays in Brazil
).
Mother's Day in Canada is celebrated on the second Sunday in May (it is not however, a public holiday or bank holiday), and typically involves small celebrations and gift-giving to one's mother, grandmother, or other important female figures in one's family. Celebratory practices are very similar to those of other western nations, such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Many people in Canada express their gratitude towards mothers and mother figures on Mother’s Day.
, the Chinese government's official newspaper, an article explained that "despite originating in the United States, people in China accept the holiday without hesitation because it is in line with the country's traditional ethics – respect for the elderly and filial piety towards parents."
In recent years the Communist Party member Li Hanqiu began to advocate for the official adoption of Mother's Day in memory of Meng Mu, the mother of Mèng Zǐ
, and formed a non-governmental organization called Chinese Mothers' Festival Promotion Society, with the support of 100 Confucian scholars and lecturers of ethics. They also ask to replace the Western gift of carnations with lilies
, which, in ancient times, were planted by Chinese mothers when children left home. It remains an unofficial festival, except in a small number of cities.
in 1989. After the split of the country in 1993, the Czech republic
started celebrating Mother's Day and Saint Valentine's Day. However, the Czechs saw those two celebrations as commercialized and artificial, and they had mild popularity. Nowadays, the sales of flowers for Women's Day are approaching those for Mother's Day or Valentine's Day.
In 1941, by initiative of Philippe Pétain
, the wartime Vichy government celebrated it as part of their policy to encourage larger families; but all mothers were now being honored, even the ones who had small families. The law of 24 May 1950 required that the Republic pay official homage to French Mothers on the last Sunday in May as the "Fête des Mères" (except when Pentecost fell on that day, in which case it was moved to the first Sunday in June). A budget was provided for the celebration in 1956, and responsibility was transferred to the Minister responsible for Families in 2004.
During the 1950s the celebration lost all its patriotic and natalist ideologies, and it became heavily commercialized.
The holiday was now seen as a means to get the women to bear more children, and nationalists saw it as a way of rejuvenating the nation. The holiday did not celebrate the individual women, but an idealized standard of motherhood. The progressive forces resisted the implementation of the holiday because it was backed by so many conservatives, and because they saw it as a way to cut the rights of the worker women. Die Frau, the newspaper of the Federation of German Women's Associations, refused to even recognize the holiday. Many local authorities made their own interpretation of the holiday: it would be a day to support economically larger families or single-mother families. The guidelines for the subsidies had eugenics
criteria, but there is no indication that social workers ever implemented them in practice, and subsidies were given preferentially to families in economic needs rather than families with more children or with "healthier" children.
With the Nazi party in power during 1933–1945, this all changed radically. The propaganda for Mother's Day had increased in many European countries, including the UK and France, and Nazis increased it from the moment they entered into power. The role of mothers was unambiguously promoted as that of giving healthy children to the German nation. The Nazi party's intention was to create a pure "Aryan race" according to nazi eugenics
. Among other Mother's Day ideas, the government promoted the death of a mother's sons in battle as the highest embodiment of patriotic motherhood.
The Nazis quickly declared Mother's Day an official holiday and put it under the control of the NSV (National Socialist People's Welfare Association) and the NSF (National Socialist Women Organization). This brought conflicts with other organizations that resented Nazi control of the holiday, like the Catholic and the Protestant churches and local women organizations. Local authorities continuously resisted the guidelines from the Nazi government and kept assigning resources to families that were in economical need, much to the dismay of the Nazi officials.
The government started issuing an award called Mother's Cross
(Mutterkreuz) in 1938, with different categories depending on the number of children. The cross intended to encourage having more children, and recipients had to have at least 4 children. For example, a gold cross recipient (a level one) had to have eight children or more. Since having fewer children was a recent development, the gold cross was awarded mostly to elderly mothers with grown-up children. It promoted loyalty among German women and it was a popular award even though it had little material awards and it was mostly empty praise. The recipients of honors had to be examined by doctors and social workers according to genetic and racial values that were considered beneficial. The friends and family were also examined for possible flaws that could disqualify them, and they had to be "racially and morally fit". They had to be "German-blooded", "genetically healthy", "worthy", "politically reliable", and they could not have vices like drinking. Criteria against honors were, for example, "family history contains inferior blood", "unfemenine" behavior like smoking or doing poor housekeeping, not being "politically reliable", or having family members that had been "indicted and imprisoned". There were instances where a family was disqualified because a doctor saw signs of "feeblemindedness". Even contact with a Jew could disqualify a potential recipient. Some social workers had become disillusioned from the Weimar Republic
and supported Nazi ideas personally as a means to "cure" the problems of the country. Application of policies was uneven, as doctors promoted medical criteria over racial criteria, and local authorities promoted economical need over any other criteria.
The holiday is now celebrated on the second Sunday of May, in a manner similar to other nearby European countries.
The festival of Pâthâre Prabhu
is celebrated on the same day only in Mumbai
(previously Bombay), the Southern part of India (concretely Konkan
and the districts below the Western Ghats
). The Pathare prabhu
caste always celebrates this holiday.It is based on a legend about a mother whose children kept dying after only one year of living and it has a very remote origin. Although it's also called "Mother's Day", it is unrelated to the modern celebration and is celebrated in the whole country.
and Sumatra
. In Indonesia, feminist organizations have existed since 1912, inspired by Indonesian heroines of the 19th century, e.g., Kartini, Martha Christina Tiahahu, Cut Nyak Meutia
, Maria Walanda Maramis
, Dewi Sartika
, Nyai Ahmad Dahlan, Rasuna Said
, etc.
The idea to make the day official was started during the third Indonesian Women Congress in 1938. It was signed by President Soekarno under the Presidential Decree no. 316 year 1959. The day was originally aimed to celebrate the spirit of Indonesian women and to improve the condition of the nation. Today, Mother's Day is celebrated by expressing love and gratitude to mothers. People present gifts to mothers, such as flowers, hold surprise parties and competitions such as cooking competition or kebaya
wearing competition. People also allow mothers to have their day off from doing domestic chores.
, the birthday anniversary of Fatimah
, Muhammad
's daughter. It was changed after the Iranian revolution
, the reason having been theorized as trying to undercut feminist movements and promoting role models for the traditional model of family. It was previously 25 Azar
on the Iranian calendar during the Shah
era.
30 of the Jewish calendar, which falls anywhere between 30 January and 1 March. It was set to the same day as the birthday of Henrietta Szold
. Henrietta had no biological children, but her organization Youth Aliyah
rescued many Jewish children from Nazi Germany and took care of them, and she also fought for several rights of Jewish children. She is considered the "mother" of all those children, and that's why her birthday was set as Mother's Day (יוֹם הָאֵם, yom ha'em). It has evolved over time, becoming a celebration of mutual love inside the family and it's called Family Day (יוֹם הַמִשְּפָּחָה, yom hamishpacha). It's only celebrated by children at kindergartens, there are no longer mutual gifts among members of the family, and there is no longer any commercialization of the celebration. It's not an official holiday either.
Israeli Arabs (about 20% of the population) celebrate Mother's Day on 21 March, similar to other Arab countries.
, thanks to the initiative of Rev. Otello Migliosi, parish priest of the Tordibetto
church. This celebration was so successful that the following year it was adopted throughout Italy, where since then it is usually celebrated on the second Sunday in May.
as the birthday of Empress Kōjun
(mother of Emperor Akihito) on 6 March. This was established in 1931 when Imperial Women's Union was organized. In 1937, the first meeting of "Praise Mothers" was held on 8 May, and in around 1949 Japanese society adapted to celebrate Mother's day on the second Sunday of May, the same as many other countries. Nowadays it is rather a marketed holiday, and people typically give flowers such as red carnations and roses as gifts.
imported the holiday from the US in 1922, with the newspaper Excélsior
making a massive promotion campaign that year. The conservative government tried to use the holiday to promote a more conservative role for mothers in families, which was criticized by the socialists as promoting an unrealistic image of a woman who wasn't good for much more than breeding.
In the mid-1930s the government of Lázaro Cárdenas
promoted the holiday as a "patriotic festival". The Cárdenas government tried to use the holiday as a vehicle for various efforts: stressing the importance of families for national development, benefiting from the loyalty that Mexicans had towards their mothers, introducing new morals to Mexican women and reducing the influence that the church and the Catholic right had on them. The government sponsored the holiday in the schools. However, the theatre plays ignored the strict guidelines from the government and they were filled with religious icons and themes, and the "national celebrations" became "religious fiestas" despite the efforts of the government.
Soledad Orozco García, the wife of President Manuel Ávila Camacho
, promoted the holiday during the 1940s, making it into an important state-sponsored celebration. The 1942 celebration lasted a whole week, including an announcement that all women could reclaim their pawned sewing machines from the Monte de Piedad
at no cost.
The catholic National Synarchist Union
(UNS) started paying attention to the holiday around 1941, due to Orozco's promotion. The members of the Party of the Mexican Revolution (now the Institutional Revolutionary Party
) that owned shops had a custom where women from humble classes could go to their shop in mother's day, pick a gift for free, and bring it home to their families. The Synarchists worried that this promoted both materialism and the idleness of lower classes, and in turn reinforced the systemic social problematics of the country. While nowadays we see those holiday practices as very conservative, the 1940s' UNS was viewing the holiday as a part of the larger debate on modernization that was happening at the time. This economic modernization was inspired by US models and was sponsored by the state, and the fact that the holiday was originally imported from the US was only seen as one more piece of evidence that it was an attempt at imposing capitalization and materialism in Mexican society.
Also, the UNS and the clergy of the city of León
saw in the government actions an effort to secularize the holiday and to promote a more active role of women in society, with the long term goal of weakening men spiritually when women abandoned their traditional roles at home. They also saw the holiday as an attempt to secularize the cult to the Virgin Mary, inside a larger effort to dechristianize several holidays, and they tried to counter this by organizing massive masses and asking religious women to assist with the state-sponsored events and try to "depaganize" them. In 1942, at the same time as Soledad's greatest celebration of the holiday, the clergy organized in León the 210th celebration of the Virgin Mary with a big parade.
There is a consensus among scholars that the Mexican government abandoned its revolutionary initiaves during the 1940s, including efforts to influence Mother's Day.
Nowadays the "Día de las Madres" is an unofficial holiday in Mexico held each year on 10 May.
There is a legend regarding this pilgrimage. In ancient times Lord Krishna’s mother Devaki walked out her house to sight-see. She visited many places and delayed a lot to return back at her house. Lord Krishna became very unhappy because of his mother’s disappearance. So he went out in search of his mother to many places without success. Finally, when he reached "Mata Tirtha Kunda", he happened to see his mother taking bath there in the spouts of that pond. Lord Krishna was very happy to find her there and narrated all of his tragedies in the absence of his mother. Mother Devaki said to lord Krishna that "oh! Son Krishna let then, this place be the pious rendezvous of children to meet their departed mothers". So legends believe that since then this place had become a noted holy pilgrimage to see back a devotees’ deceased mother. Also legend believes that a devotee saw his mother’s image inside the pond and he happened to die falling down there. So still there is a small pond fenced by the iron rods in the place even on this present day as well. After the worship the pilgrimage enjoy there singing and dancing throughout the day in the festive mood. There is not evidence of happening of this legend as these are coming from elders based on ancient readings.
because it was the birthday of Casimira Sacasa, the mother of his wife.
, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. In Pakistan, mothers day is celebrated with various media channels having special shows to celebrate this day. Individuals honor their mothers by giving gifts and commemorative articles . Individuals who have lost their mother pray and pay their respects to their loved ones lost.
it's celebrated on 8 December, the same day as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception
. This date was suggested in 1930 by the wife of Panama's President Florencio Harmodio Arosemena
, and it was passed as Law 69 in the same year.
According to other account, the Rotary Club of Panama asked in 1924 that Mother's Day be celebrated on 11 May to honor mothers, but a politician called Aníbal D. Ríos changed the proposal, so that it would be held on 8 December, and he made it into a national holiday.
it is celebrated in 15 May, the same day as the Dia de la Patria, which celebrates the independence of Paraguay. This is apparently to honor the role played by Juana María de Lara in the events of 14 May 1811 that led to Paraguay's independence.
In 2008 the Paraguayan Minister of Culture, Bruno Barrios, lamented this coincidence because Mother's Day is so much more popular in comparison that the independence celebration goes unnoticed; he asked that the celebration was moved to the end of the month. A group of young people was trying to gather 20,000 signatures to ask the Parliament to move Mother's Day. The Comisión de festejos (Celebration Committee) of the city of Asunción
asked in 2008 that Mother's Day was moved to the second Sunday of May.
mother is called the "light of the household" around which all activities revolve. Family members treat their mother for lunch/dinner out, spend time together in a park, shopping at the mall, watching movies and the most popular treat for their moms is to bring her time to retouch, like going to spa, hairstyle, body massage and the like.
But most of the families typically celebrate at home. The children help to clean their home, wash the dishes and other helpful things that mother routinely does each day. They can also prepare food or just plain spend time together with their moms.
(a leftover tradition from the days when Romania was part of the communist block), whereas now Mother's Day and Women's Day are two separate holidays, with Women's Day keeping its original date of 8 March.
celebrated only Women's Day until the Velvet Revolution
in 1989. After the split of the country in 1993, Slovakia
started celebrating both Women's Day and Mother's Day. The politicization of Women's Day has affected the official status of Mother's Day. Center-right parties want Mother's Day to replace Women's Day, while social-democrats want to make Women's Day official. Nowadays, both days are festive, but they are not "state holidays".
to promote Thailand's Royal family. Father's Day is celebrated on the King's birthday.
, which fell on the fourth Sunday of Lent
(3 April in 2011). Most historians believe that it originated from the 16th century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually on Laetere Sunday, which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children on this day when young apprentices and young women in service were released by their masters that weekend.
As a result of secularization
, it was then principally used to show appreciation to one's mother, although it is still recognized in the historical sense by some churches
, with attention paid to Mary
the mother of Jesus Christ as well as the traditional concept 'Mother Church
'.
By 1935 Mothering Sunday was less celebrated in Europe. There were efforts to revive the festival in the 1910s–1920s by Constance Penswick-Smith, but it wasn't revived until US World War II soldiers brought the Mother's Day celebrations to the UK,and it was merged with the Mothering Sunday traditions still celebrated in the Church of England
. By the 1950s it had become popular in the whole of the UK, thanks to the efforts of UK merchants, who saw in the festival a great commercial opportunity. People from Ireland and UK started celebrating Mother's Day on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the same day on which Mothering Sunday had been celebrated for centuries. Some Mothering Sunday traditions were revived, such as the tradition of eating cake on that day, although they now eat simnel cake
instead of the cakes that were traditionally prepared at that time. The traditions of the two celebrations have now been mixed up, and many people think that they are the same thing.
Mothering Sunday can fall at the earliest on 1 March (in years when Easter Day falls on 22 March) and at the latest on 4 April (when Easter Day falls on 25 April).
first issued her Mother's Day Proclamation
in 1870 as a call for women to join in support of disarmament. In the 1880s and 1890s there were several further attempts to establish an American Mother's Day, but these didn't succeed beyond the local level. The current holiday was created by Anna Jarvis
in Grafton, West Virginia
, in 1908 as a day to honor one's mother. Jarvis wanted to accomplish her mother's dream of making a celebration for all mothers, although the idea didn't take off until she enlisted the services of wealthy Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker. She kept promoting the holiday until President Woodrow Wilson
made it an official national holiday in 1914.
The holiday eventually became so highly commercialized that many, including its founder, Anna Jarvis, considered it a "Hallmark Holiday
", i.e. one with an overwhelming commercial purpose. Jarvis eventually ended up opposing the holiday she had helped to create. She died in 1948, regretting what had become of her holiday. In the United States, Mother's Day remains one of the biggest days for sales of flowers, greeting cards, and the like; it is also the biggest holiday for long-distance telephone calls. Moreover, churchgoing
is also popular, yielding the highest church attendance
after Christmas Eve and Easter. Many worshipers celebrate the day with carnations, colored if the mother is living and white if she is deceased.
herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and spent all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuse of the celebration.
Later commercial and other exploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Jarvis and she made her criticisms explicitly known the rest of her life. She criticized the practice of purchasing greeting cards, which she saw as a sign of being too lazy to write a personal letter. She was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting against the commercialization of Mother's Day, and she finally said that she "wished she would have never started the day because it became so out of control ...".
Mother's Day continues to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. 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.
For example, according to IBISWorld
, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and another $68 million on greeting cards.
Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008, with custom gifts like mother's ring
s.
It's possible that the holiday would have withered over time without the support and continuous promotion of the florist industries and other commercial industries. Other Protestant holidays from the same time, like Children's Day
and Temperance Sunday, do not have the same level of popularity. Mother's Day is also prominent in the Sunday Funnies of the United States, ranging from sentimental to wry to caustic.
Father's Day
Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days...
, the celebration honoring fathers.
Celebrations of mothers and motherhood occur throughout the world; many of these can be traced back to ancient festivals, like the Greek cult to Cybele
Cybele
Cybele , was a Phrygian form of the Earth Mother or Great Mother. As with Greek Gaia , her Minoan equivalent Rhea and some aspects of Demeter, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth...
or the Roman festival of Hilaria
Hilaria
For the saint of this name, see Saints Chrysanthus and Daria.In Ancient Roman religious tradition, the hilaria were festivals celebrated on the vernal equinox to honor Cybele....
. The modern US holiday is not directly related to these.
Modern antecedents and founding
One of the early calls to celebrate a Mother's Day in the United States was the "Mother's Day ProclamationMother's Day Proclamation
The "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War...
" by Julia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet, most famous as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".-Biography:...
. Written in 1870, it was a pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
. The Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.
In the years after the Mother's Day Proclamation, Ann Jarvis founded five Mothers' Day Work Clubs to improve sanitary and health conditions. In 1907, two years after Ann Jarvis' death, her daughter Anna Jarvis
Anna Jarvis
Anna Marie Jarvis is the founder of the Mother's Day holiday in the United States.-Biography:...
held a memorial for her mother and began a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the US. Although she was successful in 1914, she was already disappointed with its commercialization by the 1920s.
Spelling
In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association.This is also the spelling used by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in the law making official the holiday in the U.S., by the U.S. Congress on bills, and by other U.S. presidents on their declarations.
Common usage in English language also dictates that the ostensibly singular possessive "Mother's Day" is the preferred spelling, although "Mothers' Day" (plural possessive) or "Mothers Day" (plural non-possessive) are sometimes used.
Dates around the world
As the US holiday was adopted by other countries and cultures, the date was changed to fit already existing celebrations honouring motherhood, like Mothering Sunday in the UK or, in Greece, the OrthodoxOrthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
celebration of the presentation of Jesus Christ to the temple (2 February). In some countries it was changed to dates that were significant to the majority religion, like the Virgin Mary day in Catholic countries, or the birthday of the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
in Islamic countries. Other countries changed it to historical dates, like Bolivia using the date of a certain battle where women participated. See the "International history and traditions" section for the complete list.
Note: Countries that celebrate the International Women's Day
International Women's Day
International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...
instead of Mother's Day are marked with a dagger
Dagger (typography)
A dagger, or obelisk. is a typographical symbol or glyph. The term "obelisk" derives from Greek , which means "little obelus"; from meaning "roasting spit"...
'†'.
| Gregorian calendar | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Occurrence | Dates | Country | |||||
Second Sunday of February |
Feb , Feb , Feb , |
 Norway |
|||||
3 Mar |
 Georgia (country) |
||||||
8 Mar |
 Afghanistan  Albania  Armenia† |
 Azerbaijan  Belarus†  Bosnia and Herzegovina† |
 Kingdom of Bulgaria†  Kazakhstan†  Laos |
 Republic of Macedonia†  Moldova  Kingdom of Montenegro†  Kingdom of Romania† |
 Serbia†  Ukraine†  Vietnam†* |
||
Fourth Sunday in Lent Lent In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and... |
 Republic of Ireland  Nigeria |
 United Kingdom  Bangladesh |
|||||
21 Mar (vernal equinox Equinox An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator... ) |
 Bahrain  Egypt  Jordan  Kuwait  Libya |
 Lebanon  Oman  Palestinian territories  Qatar  Israeli Arabs |
 Saudi Arabia  Sudan  Syria |
 United Arab Emirates  Yemen (all Arab countries in general)  Iraq |
|||
25 Mar |
 Slovenia |
||||||
7 Apr |
Armenia |
||||||
First Sunday in May |
May , May , May , |
 Hungary  Lithuania |
 Mozambique  Portugal |
 Spain |
|||
8 May |
 South Korea (Parents' DayParents' Day Parents' Day is a holiday similar to a combination of Father's Day and Mother's Day.-In the United States:In the United States, Parents' Day is held on the fourth Sunday of every July... )  Pakistan |
||||||
10 May |
 El Salvador  Guatemala |
 Mexico |
|||||
Second Sunday of May |
May , May , May , |
 Anguilla  Aruba  Australia  Austria  The Bahamas  Barbados  Belgium  Belize  Bermuda  Bonaire  Botswana  Brazil  Brunei |
 Canada  Chile  People's Republic of China† Colombia  Independent State of Croatia  Cuba Curaçao  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark |
 Dominica  Ecuador  Estonia  Ethiopia Fiji  Finland  Germany  Gold Coast (British colony)  Greece  Grenada  Guyana  Honduras  Hong Kong  Iceland  India |
 Italy  Jamaica  Japan  Latvia*  Liechtenstein*  Macau  Malaysia  Malta  Myanmar  Netherlands  New Zealand Pakistan  Papua New Guinea  Peru |
 Philippines  Puerto Rico  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Samoa  Singapore  Sint Maarten  Slovakia  South Africa  Sri Lanka  Suriname |
 Switzerland  Republic of China  Tanganyika  Tonga  Trinidad and Tobago  Turkey  Uganda Ukraine  United States  Uruguay Vietnam  Venezuela  Zambia  Zimbabwe |
15 May |
 Paraguay (same day as Día de la Patria) |
||||||
26 May |
 Poland "Dzień Matki" |
||||||
27 May |
 Bolivia |
||||||
Last Sunday of May |
May , May , May , |
 Algeria  Dominican Republic |
 Early Modern France (First Sunday of June if PentecostPentecost Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus... occurs on this day) French Antilles (First Sunday of June if PentecostPentecost Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus... occurs on this day) |
 Haiti Mauritius  Morocco |
 Sweden  Tunisia |
||
30 May |
 Nicaragua |
||||||
1 Jun |
 Mongolia† (The Mothers and Children's Day.) |
||||||
Second Sunday of June |
Jun , Jun , Jun , |
 Luxembourg |
|||||
Last Sunday of June |
Jun , Jun , Jun , |
 Kenya |
|||||
12 Aug |
 Thailand (The birthday of Queen Sirikit) |
||||||
15 Aug |
 Costa RicaAntwerp (Belgium) |
||||||
Second Monday of October |
Oct , Oct , Oct , |
 Malawi |
|||||
14 Oct |
Belarus |
||||||
Third Sunday of October |
Oct , Oct , Oct , |
 Argentina (Día de la Madre) |
|||||
Last Sunday of November |
Nov , Nov , Nov , |
 Russia |
|||||
8 Dec (Feast of the Immaculate Conception Feast of the Immaculate Conception The Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is celebrated on 8 December, nine months before the Nativity of Mary, which is celebrated on 8 September. It is the patronal feast day of the United States and the Republic of the... ) |
 Panama |
||||||
22 Dec |
 Indonesia |
||||||
| Other calendars | |||||||
| Occurrence | Gregorian Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter... dates |
Country | |||||
Shevat Shevat Shevat is the fifth month of the civil year and the eleventh month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a winter month of 30 days... 30 |
Between 30 January and 1 March | Israel |
|||||
Baisakh Amavasya Amavasya Amavasya is the Indian name for a New moon. The word Amavasya is common to many Indian languages especially Sanskrit, Hindi, Assamese, Kannada, Bengali, Konkani, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu, and Gujarati... (Mata Tirtha Aunsi) |
Between 19 and 29 April |  Nepal |
|||||
20 Jumada al-thani Jumada al-thani Jumada al-Thani is the sixth month in the Islamic Calendar.It is also known as Jumaada al-Akhir and Jumada al-Akhira.This is the sixth month of the Islamic calendar... Since the Islamic Calendar Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic... uses the lunar year, which is shorter than the solar year, the day will migrate through the seasons. Every year it will correspond to a different day in the Gregorian Calendar, so it is listed separately. |
24 May 2011 |  Iran |
|||||
International history and traditions
In most countries, Mother's Day is a recent observance derived from the holiday as it has evolved in America. When it was adopted by other countries and cultures, it was given different meanings, associated to different events (religious, historical or legendary), and celebrated in a different date or dates.Some countries already had existing celebrations honoring motherhood, and their celebrations have adopted several external characteristics from the US holiday, like giving carnations and other presents to your own mother.
The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture (compare the celebrations of Diwali
Diwali
Diwali or DeepavaliThe name of the festival in various regional languages include:, , , , , , , , , , , , , popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December for different reasons...
in the UK and the United States).
Religion
In the Roman-Catholic Church, the holiday is strongly associated with reverencing the Virgin Mary. In many Catholic homes, families have a special shrine devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In many Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a special prayer service is held in honor of the TheotokosTheotokos
Theotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God...
Virgin Mary.
In Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
tradition it is called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" or "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight", and it is celebrated in countries with Hindu population, especially in Nepal. It is celebrated on the new moon day in the month of Baisakh, i.e., April/May. This holiday is based in Hindu religion and it pre-dates the creation of the Western-inspired holiday by at least a few centuries.
Some Islamic scholars have published fatwas
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
against dedicating a single day to honor mothers, which detracts from honoring them year round as ordered by the Quran.
African countries
Many African countries adopted the idea of one Mother's Day from the British tradition, although there are many festivals and events celebrating mothers within the many diverse cultures on the African continent that long pre-date the colonization of AfricaScramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa or Partition of Africa was a process of invasion, occupation, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the New Imperialism period, between 1881 and World War I in 1914...
by European powers.
Arab World
Mother's Day in most Arab countries is celebrated on 21 March. It was introduced in Egypt by journalist Mustafa Amin in his book (Smiling America) 1943. The idea was overlooked at the time, but when Amin heard the story of a widowed mother who devoted her whole life to raise her son until he became a doctor, got married and left without showing her any gratitude, Amin became motivated to promote for "Mother's Day". The idea was first ridiculed by president Gamal Abdel NasserGamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
but he eventually accepted it and Mother's Day was first celebrated on 21 March 1956. The practice has since been copied by the other Arab countries.
When Mustafa Amin was arrested and imprisoned, there were attempts to change the name of the holiday from "Mother's Day" to "Family Day" as the government wished to prevent the occasion from reminding people of its founder. These attempts were unsuccessful and celebrations continued to be held on that day; classic songs celebrating mothers remain famous to this day.
Afghanistan
In AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Mother's Day was celebrated on 12 June 2010, on the second Saturday in June.
Argentina
In Argentina it's celebrated in the third Sunday of October. It was first celebrated in 11 October, the old liturgical date for the celebration of Virgin Mary (after the Second Vatican CouncilSecond Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
the Virgin Mary festivity was moved to 1 January). Around 1982, the national merchants asked that it was moved to the third Sunday of October, in order to reactivate the sales of the second half of that month.
Australia
In Australia, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. It is not a public holiday, nor is it known as a holiday.The tradition of gift giving to mothers on Mother's Day in Australia was started by Mrs Janet Heyden, a resident of Leichhardt Sydney, in 1924. She began the tradition during a visit to a patient at the Newington State Home for Women, where she met many lonely and forgotten mothers. To cheer them up, she rounded up support from local school children and businesses to donate and bring gifts to the women. Every year thereafter, more support was raised by Mrs Heyden with local businesses and even the local Mayor. The day has since become commercialized. Traditionally, the Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums, often called mums or chrysanths, are of the genus constituting approximately 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae which is native to Asia and northeastern Europe.-Etymology:...
is given to mothers for mother's day as the flower is naturally in season during Autumn and ends in 'mum', the Australian slang for a mother.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, Mother's Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of the month of May. In observance of the day discussion programs are organized by government and non-governmental organizations. Reception programs, cultural programs are organized to mark the day in the Capital city. Television channels aired special programs and newspapers published special features and column to mark the day. Greeting cards, flowers and gifts featuring mother’s specialty to the children were on high demand at the shops and markets.Bolivia
In Bolivia, Mother's Day is celebrated on 27 May. The Dia de la Madre Boliviana was passed into law on 8 November 1927, during the presidency of Hernando Siles ReyesHernando Siles Reyes
Hernando Siles Reyes was the 31st President of Bolivia, serving from 1926-1930.Founder of the Nationalist Party, he soon gravitated toward the Saavedrista faction of the Republican Party, which had come to power in 1920...
. It commemorates the Battle of Coronilla, which took place on 27 May 1812, during the Bolivian War of Independence, in what is now the city of Cochabamba
Cochabamba
Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people...
. In this battle, women fighting for the country's independence were slaughtered by the Spanish army. It's not a festive day, but all schools make activities and festivities during this day. "Ma Dibos"
Brazil
In Brazil, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May.The first Mother's Day in the country was promoted by Associação Cristã de Moços de Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
(Young Men's Christian Association of Porto Alegre), on 12 May 1918. In 1932, the then-President Getulio Vargas made official the date on the second Sunday of May. In 1947, Archbishop Jaime de Barros Chamber, Cardinal-Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, determined that this date was also included in the official calendar of the Catholic Church.
It's considered an unofficial holiday (see Public holidays in Brazil
Public holidays in Brazil
In Brazil, public holidays may be legislated at the federal, statewide and municipal levels. Most holidays are observed nationwide, but each state and city may have its own holidays as well....
).
Canada
- See also Other observances in Canada
Mother's Day in Canada is celebrated on the second Sunday in May (it is not however, a public holiday or bank holiday), and typically involves small celebrations and gift-giving to one's mother, grandmother, or other important female figures in one's family. Celebratory practices are very similar to those of other western nations, such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Many people in Canada express their gratitude towards mothers and mother figures on Mother’s Day.
China
The day is becoming more popular in China, and carnations are a very popular gift and the most sold type of flower. In 1997 it was set as the day to help poor mothers, specially to remind people of the poor mothers in rural areas such as China's western region. In the People's DailyPeople's Daily
The People's Daily is a daily newspaper in the People's Republic of China. The paper is an organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China , published worldwide with a circulation of 3 to 4 million. In addition to its main Chinese-language edition, it has editions in English,...
, the Chinese government's official newspaper, an article explained that "despite originating in the United States, people in China accept the holiday without hesitation because it is in line with the country's traditional ethics – respect for the elderly and filial piety towards parents."
In recent years the Communist Party member Li Hanqiu began to advocate for the official adoption of Mother's Day in memory of Meng Mu, the mother of Mèng Zǐ
Mencius
Mencius was a Chinese philosopher who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself.-Life:Mencius, also known by his birth name Meng Ke or Ko, was born in the State of Zou, now forming the territory of the county-level city of Zoucheng , Shandong province, only thirty kilometres ...
, and formed a non-governmental organization called Chinese Mothers' Festival Promotion Society, with the support of 100 Confucian scholars and lecturers of ethics. They also ask to replace the Western gift of carnations with lilies
Lilium
Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs. Most species are native to the temperate northern hemisphere, though the range extends into the northern subtropics...
, which, in ancient times, were planted by Chinese mothers when children left home. It remains an unofficial festival, except in a small number of cities.
Czech Republic
Czech Republic celebrated Women's Day until the fall of the Berlin WallBerlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
in 1989. After the split of the country in 1993, the Czech republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
started celebrating Mother's Day and Saint Valentine's Day. However, the Czechs saw those two celebrations as commercialized and artificial, and they had mild popularity. Nowadays, the sales of flowers for Women's Day are approaching those for Mother's Day or Valentine's Day.
France
In France, alarmed by the low birth rate, there had been attempts in 1896 and 1904 to make a national celebration honoring the mothers of large families. American World War I soldiers fighting in France popularized the U.S. holiday created by Ann Jarvis; they sent so much mail back to their country in Mother's Day that the Union franco-américaine created a postal card for that purpose. In 1918, also inspired by Jarvis, the town of Lyon wanted to celebrate a "journée des Mères", but it finally decided to celebrate a "Journée Nationale des Mères de familles nombreuses", which was more inspired in the anti-depopulation efforts than in the US holiday, with medals being awarded to the mothers of large families. The French government officialised the day in 1920 as a day for mothers of large families.In 1941, by initiative of Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
, the wartime Vichy government celebrated it as part of their policy to encourage larger families; but all mothers were now being honored, even the ones who had small families. The law of 24 May 1950 required that the Republic pay official homage to French Mothers on the last Sunday in May as the "Fête des Mères" (except when Pentecost fell on that day, in which case it was moved to the first Sunday in June). A budget was provided for the celebration in 1956, and responsibility was transferred to the Minister responsible for Families in 2004.
During the 1950s the celebration lost all its patriotic and natalist ideologies, and it became heavily commercialized.
Germany
In the 1920s, Germany had the lowest birthrate in Europe, and it was still declining. It was attributed to women's participation in the labor market. At the same time, all influential groups in society (left and right politicians, churchwomen, and feminists) thought that mothers should be honored but could not agree on how to do it. All those groups agreed strongly in the promotion of the values of motherhood. in 1923, this resulted in the unanimous adoption of Muttertag, the Mother's Day holiday as imported from America and Norway. The head of the Association of German Florists cited "the inner conflict of our Volk and the loosening of the family" as his reason for introducing the holiday, and he expected that it would unite the divided country. In 1925, the Mother's Day Committee joined the task force for the recovery of the volk, and the holiday stopped depending on commercial interests and it started being about the level of population Germany.The holiday was now seen as a means to get the women to bear more children, and nationalists saw it as a way of rejuvenating the nation. The holiday did not celebrate the individual women, but an idealized standard of motherhood. The progressive forces resisted the implementation of the holiday because it was backed by so many conservatives, and because they saw it as a way to cut the rights of the worker women. Die Frau, the newspaper of the Federation of German Women's Associations, refused to even recognize the holiday. Many local authorities made their own interpretation of the holiday: it would be a day to support economically larger families or single-mother families. The guidelines for the subsidies had eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
criteria, but there is no indication that social workers ever implemented them in practice, and subsidies were given preferentially to families in economic needs rather than families with more children or with "healthier" children.
With the Nazi party in power during 1933–1945, this all changed radically. The propaganda for Mother's Day had increased in many European countries, including the UK and France, and Nazis increased it from the moment they entered into power. The role of mothers was unambiguously promoted as that of giving healthy children to the German nation. The Nazi party's intention was to create a pure "Aryan race" according to nazi eugenics
Nazi eugenics
Nazi eugenics were Nazi Germany's racially-based social policies that placed the improvement of the Aryan race through eugenics at the center of their concerns...
. Among other Mother's Day ideas, the government promoted the death of a mother's sons in battle as the highest embodiment of patriotic motherhood.
The Nazis quickly declared Mother's Day an official holiday and put it under the control of the NSV (National Socialist People's Welfare Association) and the NSF (National Socialist Women Organization). This brought conflicts with other organizations that resented Nazi control of the holiday, like the Catholic and the Protestant churches and local women organizations. Local authorities continuously resisted the guidelines from the Nazi government and kept assigning resources to families that were in economical need, much to the dismay of the Nazi officials.
The government started issuing an award called Mother's Cross
Cross of Honor of the German Mother
The Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter , referred to colloquially as the Mutterehrenkreuz or simply Mutterkreuz , was a state decoration and civil order of merit conferred by the government of the Deutsches Reich to honour a “Reichsdeutsche” mother for...
(Mutterkreuz) in 1938, with different categories depending on the number of children. The cross intended to encourage having more children, and recipients had to have at least 4 children. For example, a gold cross recipient (a level one) had to have eight children or more. Since having fewer children was a recent development, the gold cross was awarded mostly to elderly mothers with grown-up children. It promoted loyalty among German women and it was a popular award even though it had little material awards and it was mostly empty praise. The recipients of honors had to be examined by doctors and social workers according to genetic and racial values that were considered beneficial. The friends and family were also examined for possible flaws that could disqualify them, and they had to be "racially and morally fit". They had to be "German-blooded", "genetically healthy", "worthy", "politically reliable", and they could not have vices like drinking. Criteria against honors were, for example, "family history contains inferior blood", "unfemenine" behavior like smoking or doing poor housekeeping, not being "politically reliable", or having family members that had been "indicted and imprisoned". There were instances where a family was disqualified because a doctor saw signs of "feeblemindedness". Even contact with a Jew could disqualify a potential recipient. Some social workers had become disillusioned from the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
and supported Nazi ideas personally as a means to "cure" the problems of the country. Application of policies was uneven, as doctors promoted medical criteria over racial criteria, and local authorities promoted economical need over any other criteria.
The holiday is now celebrated on the second Sunday of May, in a manner similar to other nearby European countries.
India
Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. It is quite famous in urban areas, where gift giving to mothers is observed.The festival of Pâthâre Prabhu
Pathare prabhu
Pathare Prabhu is one of the Hindu communities in the city of Mumbai . These people are among earliest settlers in the city. They are known to have one of the oldest academic traditions amongst Hindus on par with Brahmins. They were amongst the first of the Hindus to adopt to British educational...
is celebrated on the same day only in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
(previously Bombay), the Southern part of India (concretely Konkan
Konkan
The Konkan also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore...
and the districts below the Western Ghats
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
). The Pathare prabhu
Pathare prabhu
Pathare Prabhu is one of the Hindu communities in the city of Mumbai . These people are among earliest settlers in the city. They are known to have one of the oldest academic traditions amongst Hindus on par with Brahmins. They were amongst the first of the Hindus to adopt to British educational...
caste always celebrates this holiday.It is based on a legend about a mother whose children kept dying after only one year of living and it has a very remote origin. Although it's also called "Mother's Day", it is unrelated to the modern celebration and is celebrated in the whole country.
Indonesia
Mother's day is celebrated nationally on 22 December. It is the day of the first Indonesian Women Congress from 22 to 25 December 1928. The meeting happens in a building called Dalem Jayadipuran now functioned as office of Center of History and Traditional Values Preservation in Brigjen Katamso Street, Yogyakarta. It was attended by 30 feminist organizations from 12 cities in JavaJava
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
and Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
. In Indonesia, feminist organizations have existed since 1912, inspired by Indonesian heroines of the 19th century, e.g., Kartini, Martha Christina Tiahahu, Cut Nyak Meutia
Cut Nyak Meutia
Cut Nyak Meutia is a Indonesian national hero from Aceh.-Life:Cut Nyak Meutia, also known as Cut Meutia, was born in Perlak, Aceh, in 1870. When she grew into adulthood, she married Teuku Sam Searah. They divorced not long after marriage.-Against the Dutch:Cut Nyak Meutia's new husband was Cut...
, Maria Walanda Maramis
Maria Walanda Maramis
Maria Josephine Catherine Maramis is more commonly known as Maria Walanda Maramis and is recognized as a national hero in Indonesia for her efforts to advance the circumstances of women in Indonesia at the beginning of the 20th century.-Early life:Maria was born in Kema, a small town in the...
, Dewi Sartika
Dewi Sartika
Dewi Sartika , was the leading figure and pioneer for the education for women in Indonesia. She was acknowledged as a National Hero by the Indonesian government in 1966.Biography...
, Nyai Ahmad Dahlan, Rasuna Said
Rasuna Said
Hajjah Rangkayo Rasuna Said was a Minangkabau Indonesian nationalist political leader, and the first female minister of Indonesia. Like Raden Ayu Kartini, she fought for equality between men and women and was awarded the title National Hero of Indonesia...
, etc.
The idea to make the day official was started during the third Indonesian Women Congress in 1938. It was signed by President Soekarno under the Presidential Decree no. 316 year 1959. The day was originally aimed to celebrate the spirit of Indonesian women and to improve the condition of the nation. Today, Mother's Day is celebrated by expressing love and gratitude to mothers. People present gifts to mothers, such as flowers, hold surprise parties and competitions such as cooking competition or kebaya
Kebaya
A Kebaya is a traditional blouse-dress combination worn by women in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Burma, Singapore, southern Thailand. It is sometimes made from sheer material and usually worn with a sarong or batik kain panjang, or other traditional woven garment such as ikat, songket with a...
wearing competition. People also allow mothers to have their day off from doing domestic chores.
Iran
Celebrated on 20 Jumada al-thaniJumada al-thani
Jumada al-Thani is the sixth month in the Islamic Calendar.It is also known as Jumaada al-Akhir and Jumada al-Akhira.This is the sixth month of the Islamic calendar...
, the birthday anniversary of Fatimah
Fatimah
Fatimah was a daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from his first wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. She is regarded by Muslims as an exemplar for men and women. She remained at her father's side through the difficulties suffered by him at the hands of the Quraysh of Mecca...
, Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
's daughter. It was changed after the Iranian revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, the reason having been theorized as trying to undercut feminist movements and promoting role models for the traditional model of family. It was previously 25 Azar
Iranian calendar
The Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
on the Iranian calendar during the Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
era.
Israel
It is celebrated on ShevatShevat
Shevat is the fifth month of the civil year and the eleventh month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a winter month of 30 days...
30 of the Jewish calendar, which falls anywhere between 30 January and 1 March. It was set to the same day as the birthday of Henrietta Szold
Henrietta Szold
Henrietta Szold was a U.S. Jewish Zionist leader and founder of the Hadassah Women's Organization. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandate Palestine dedicated to a binational solution.-Biography:...
. Henrietta had no biological children, but her organization Youth Aliyah
Youth Aliyah
Szold was initially skeptical about the merits of Freier's proposal, as she believed that Germany offered better educational opportunities for Jewish children than Palestine. However, Hitler's rise to power convinced her otherwise. The Nuremberg Laws were enacted in 1935 and on 31 March 1936 German...
rescued many Jewish children from Nazi Germany and took care of them, and she also fought for several rights of Jewish children. She is considered the "mother" of all those children, and that's why her birthday was set as Mother's Day (יוֹם הָאֵם, yom ha'em). It has evolved over time, becoming a celebration of mutual love inside the family and it's called Family Day (יוֹם הַמִשְּפָּחָה, yom hamishpacha). It's only celebrated by children at kindergartens, there are no longer mutual gifts among members of the family, and there is no longer any commercialization of the celebration. It's not an official holiday either.
Israeli Arabs (about 20% of the population) celebrate Mother's Day on 21 March, similar to other Arab countries.
Italy
Mother's Day in Italy was celebrated for the first time on 12 May 1957, in the city of AssisiAssisi
- Churches :* The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi is a World Heritage Site. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253...
, thanks to the initiative of Rev. Otello Migliosi, parish priest of the Tordibetto
Tordibetto
Tordibetto is a frazione of the comune of Assisi in the Province of Perugia, Umbria, central Italy. It stands at an elevation of 255 metres above sea level. At the time of the Istat census of 2001 it had 235 inhabitants....
church. This celebration was so successful that the following year it was adopted throughout Italy, where since then it is usually celebrated on the second Sunday in May.
Japan
Mother's Day in Japan was initially commemorated during the Shōwa periodShowa period
The , or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, from December 25, 1926 through January 7, 1989.The Shōwa period was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor...
as the birthday of Empress Kōjun
Empress Kojun
' was empress consort of Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Born , she was the mother of the present Emperor .Her posthumous name is Kōjun, which means "fragrant purity"...
(mother of Emperor Akihito) on 6 March. This was established in 1931 when Imperial Women's Union was organized. In 1937, the first meeting of "Praise Mothers" was held on 8 May, and in around 1949 Japanese society adapted to celebrate Mother's day on the second Sunday of May, the same as many other countries. Nowadays it is rather a marketed holiday, and people typically give flowers such as red carnations and roses as gifts.
Malta
The first mention of Mother’s Day in Malta occurred during the Radio Children’s Programmes run by Frans H. Said in May 1961. Within a few years, Mother’s Day has become one of the most popular dates in the Maltese calendar. In Malta, this day is commemorated on the second Sunday in May. Mothers are invariably given gifts and invited for lunch, usually at a good restaurant.Mexico
The government of Álvaro ObregónÁlvaro Obregón
General Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term....
imported the holiday from the US in 1922, with the newspaper Excélsior
Excélsior
Excélsior is a daily newspaper, founded by Rafael Alducin and published in Mexico City since 1917.During the 1950s and 1960s, the newspaper's editorial stance was of a relatively liberal bent, under the editorship of Julio Scherer...
making a massive promotion campaign that year. The conservative government tried to use the holiday to promote a more conservative role for mothers in families, which was criticized by the socialists as promoting an unrealistic image of a woman who wasn't good for much more than breeding.
In the mid-1930s the government of Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
promoted the holiday as a "patriotic festival". The Cárdenas government tried to use the holiday as a vehicle for various efforts: stressing the importance of families for national development, benefiting from the loyalty that Mexicans had towards their mothers, introducing new morals to Mexican women and reducing the influence that the church and the Catholic right had on them. The government sponsored the holiday in the schools. However, the theatre plays ignored the strict guidelines from the government and they were filled with religious icons and themes, and the "national celebrations" became "religious fiestas" despite the efforts of the government.
Soledad Orozco García, the wife of President Manuel Ávila Camacho
Manuel Ávila Camacho
Manuel Ávila Camacho served as the President of Mexico from 1940 to 1946.Manuel Ávila was born in the city of Teziutlán, a small town in Puebla, to middle-class parents, Manuel Ávila Castillo and Eufrosina Camacho Bello. He had several siblings, among them sister María Jovita Ávila Camacho and...
, promoted the holiday during the 1940s, making it into an important state-sponsored celebration. The 1942 celebration lasted a whole week, including an announcement that all women could reclaim their pawned sewing machines from the Monte de Piedad
Nacional Monte de Piedad
The Nacional Monte de Piedad is a not-for-profit- institution and pawnshop whose main office is located just off the Zócalo, or main plaza of Mexico City. It was established between 1774 and 1777 by Pedro Romero de Terreros as part of a movement to provide interest-free or low-interest loans to...
at no cost.
The catholic National Synarchist Union
National Synarchist Union
The National Synarchist Union is a Mexican political organization. It was historically a movement of the Roman Catholic extreme right, in some ways akin to clerical fascism and falangism, violently opposed to the leftist and secularist policies of the revolutionary governments that ruled Mexico...
(UNS) started paying attention to the holiday around 1941, due to Orozco's promotion. The members of the Party of the Mexican Revolution (now the Institutional Revolutionary Party
Institutional Revolutionary Party
The Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that held power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the few...
) that owned shops had a custom where women from humble classes could go to their shop in mother's day, pick a gift for free, and bring it home to their families. The Synarchists worried that this promoted both materialism and the idleness of lower classes, and in turn reinforced the systemic social problematics of the country. While nowadays we see those holiday practices as very conservative, the 1940s' UNS was viewing the holiday as a part of the larger debate on modernization that was happening at the time. This economic modernization was inspired by US models and was sponsored by the state, and the fact that the holiday was originally imported from the US was only seen as one more piece of evidence that it was an attempt at imposing capitalization and materialism in Mexican society.
Also, the UNS and the clergy of the city of León
León, Guanajuato
The city of León, formally León de los Aldama is the sixth most populous city in Mexico and the first in the state of Guanajuato. It is also the seat of the municipality of León...
saw in the government actions an effort to secularize the holiday and to promote a more active role of women in society, with the long term goal of weakening men spiritually when women abandoned their traditional roles at home. They also saw the holiday as an attempt to secularize the cult to the Virgin Mary, inside a larger effort to dechristianize several holidays, and they tried to counter this by organizing massive masses and asking religious women to assist with the state-sponsored events and try to "depaganize" them. In 1942, at the same time as Soledad's greatest celebration of the holiday, the clergy organized in León the 210th celebration of the Virgin Mary with a big parade.
There is a consensus among scholars that the Mexican government abandoned its revolutionary initiaves during the 1940s, including efforts to influence Mother's Day.
Nowadays the "Día de las Madres" is an unofficial holiday in Mexico held each year on 10 May.
Nepal
"Mata Tirtha Aunshi", translated as "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight", falls in the month of Baishak dark fortnight (April/may). This festival falls in the dark moon’s time, which is why this called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" derived from words: "Mata" meaning mother; "Tirtha" meaning pilgrimage. This festival is observed in the commemoration and respect of the mother, which is celebrated by worshipping and gifting living mother or remembering mothers who have become immortal and are resting in peace. Going to Mata Tirtha Pilgrimage located towards the Kathmandu valley’s eastern side at Mata Tirtha Village development committee’s periphery is another tradition common in Nepal. Previously, people especially from Newar communities and people living in the valley used to celebrate it. Now, this festival is being celebrated by widespread communities.There is a legend regarding this pilgrimage. In ancient times Lord Krishna’s mother Devaki walked out her house to sight-see. She visited many places and delayed a lot to return back at her house. Lord Krishna became very unhappy because of his mother’s disappearance. So he went out in search of his mother to many places without success. Finally, when he reached "Mata Tirtha Kunda", he happened to see his mother taking bath there in the spouts of that pond. Lord Krishna was very happy to find her there and narrated all of his tragedies in the absence of his mother. Mother Devaki said to lord Krishna that "oh! Son Krishna let then, this place be the pious rendezvous of children to meet their departed mothers". So legends believe that since then this place had become a noted holy pilgrimage to see back a devotees’ deceased mother. Also legend believes that a devotee saw his mother’s image inside the pond and he happened to die falling down there. So still there is a small pond fenced by the iron rods in the place even on this present day as well. After the worship the pilgrimage enjoy there singing and dancing throughout the day in the festive mood. There is not evidence of happening of this legend as these are coming from elders based on ancient readings.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. It is not a public holiday. It's traditional to give cards, gifts and breakfast in bed.Nicaragua
In Nicaragua the Día de la Madre is celebrated on 30 May since the first years of the 1940s. The date was chosen by President Anastasio Somoza GarcíaAnastasio Somoza García
Anastasio Somoza García was officially the President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 1950 to 29 September 1956, but ruled effectively as dictator from 1936 until his assassination.-Biography:Somoza was born in San Marcos, Carazo Department in Nicaragua, the son of...
because it was the birthday of Casimira Sacasa, the mother of his wife.
Pakistan
In PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. In Pakistan, mothers day is celebrated with various media channels having special shows to celebrate this day. Individuals honor their mothers by giving gifts and commemorative articles . Individuals who have lost their mother pray and pay their respects to their loved ones lost.
Panama
In PanamaPanama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
it's celebrated on 8 December, the same day as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is celebrated on 8 December, nine months before the Nativity of Mary, which is celebrated on 8 September. It is the patronal feast day of the United States and the Republic of the...
. This date was suggested in 1930 by the wife of Panama's President Florencio Harmodio Arosemena
Florencio Harmodio Arosemena
Florencio Harmodio Arosemena Guillén was President of Panama from October 1, 1928 to January 3, 1931. He belonged to the Liberal Party....
, and it was passed as Law 69 in the same year.
According to other account, the Rotary Club of Panama asked in 1924 that Mother's Day be celebrated on 11 May to honor mothers, but a politician called Aníbal D. Ríos changed the proposal, so that it would be held on 8 December, and he made it into a national holiday.
Paraguay
In ParaguayParaguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
it is celebrated in 15 May, the same day as the Dia de la Patria, which celebrates the independence of Paraguay. This is apparently to honor the role played by Juana María de Lara in the events of 14 May 1811 that led to Paraguay's independence.
In 2008 the Paraguayan Minister of Culture, Bruno Barrios, lamented this coincidence because Mother's Day is so much more popular in comparison that the independence celebration goes unnoticed; he asked that the celebration was moved to the end of the month. A group of young people was trying to gather 20,000 signatures to ask the Parliament to move Mother's Day. The Comisión de festejos (Celebration Committee) of the city of Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
asked in 2008 that Mother's Day was moved to the second Sunday of May.
Philippines
Mother's day in the Philippines is celebrated every second Sunday of May. A FilipinoFilipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
mother is called the "light of the household" around which all activities revolve. Family members treat their mother for lunch/dinner out, spend time together in a park, shopping at the mall, watching movies and the most popular treat for their moms is to bring her time to retouch, like going to spa, hairstyle, body massage and the like.
But most of the families typically celebrate at home. The children help to clean their home, wash the dishes and other helpful things that mother routinely does each day. They can also prepare food or just plain spend time together with their moms.
Portugal
In Portugal, the "Dia da Mãe" ("Mother's Day", literally) is an unofficial holiday held each year on the first Sunday of May (sometimes coinciding with Labour Day).Romania
In Romania, since 2010, Mother's Day is celebrated in the first Sunday of May. Law 319/2009 also made Father's Day official in Romania, and it was passed thanks to the campaigning from the Alliance Fighting Discrimination Against Fathers (TATA). Previously, Mother's Day was celebrated on 8 March, as part of the International Women's DayInternational Women's Day
International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...
(a leftover tradition from the days when Romania was part of the communist block), whereas now Mother's Day and Women's Day are two separate holidays, with Women's Day keeping its original date of 8 March.
Slovakia
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
celebrated only Women's Day until the Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
in 1989. After the split of the country in 1993, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
started celebrating both Women's Day and Mother's Day. The politicization of Women's Day has affected the official status of Mother's Day. Center-right parties want Mother's Day to replace Women's Day, while social-democrats want to make Women's Day official. Nowadays, both days are festive, but they are not "state holidays".
Sweden
In Sweden, Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1919, by initiative of the author Cecilia Bååth-Holmberg. It took several decades for the day to be widely recognized though. Those born in the early nineteen hundreds typically did not celebrate the day, as the common opinion was that it had been invented strictly for commercial purposes. Not the same thing when it came to Father's day though, since the late 1970s has the practice found common acceptance. Mother´s Day in Sweden is celebrated the last Sunday in May, this year 2011 its the 29 May. The reason for the late date is said to be because then everybody could go outside and pick flowers.Taiwan
In Taiwan, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of the month of May, coinciding with Buddha Day and Tzu Chi Day as part of a unified celebration and religious observance. In Taiwanese Budhist culture, recognizing Mother's Day is conflated as part of three "fields" necessary for cultivating wisdom. Mother’s Day in Taiwan represents the “field of gratitude, thankfulness and honor,” while Buddha Day is for the “field of reverence” and Tzu Chi day contributes to the “field of compassion.”Thailand
Mother's day in Thailand is celebrated on the birthday of the Queen of Thailand, Queen Sirikit (12 Aug). It started being celebrated around the 1980s as part of the campaign by the Prime Minister of Thailand Prem TinsulanondaPrem Tinsulanonda
General Prem Tinsulanonda is a retired Thai military officer who served as Prime Minister of Thailand from March 3, 1980 to August 4, 1988. He now serves as the Head of the Privy Council of the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej....
to promote Thailand's Royal family. Father's Day is celebrated on the King's birthday.
United Kingdom and Ireland
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, there was a celebration called Mothering SundayMothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday is a Christian festival celebrated throughout Europe that falls on the 4th Sunday in Lent. Secularly it became a celebration of motherhood. It is increasingly being called Mother's Day, although in countries other than the UK and Ireland that holiday has other origins...
, which fell on the fourth Sunday of Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
(3 April in 2011). Most historians believe that it originated from the 16th century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually on Laetere Sunday, which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children on this day when young apprentices and young women in service were released by their masters that weekend.
As a result of secularization
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...
, it was then principally used to show appreciation to one's mother, although it is still recognized in the historical sense by some churches
Church Body
A local church is a Christian religious organization that meets in a particular location. Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by pastors or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seek seek non-profit corporate status...
, with attention paid to Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
the mother of Jesus Christ as well as the traditional concept 'Mother Church
Mother Church
In Christianity, the term mother church or Mother Church may have one of the following meanings:# The first mission church in an area, or a pioneer cathedral# A basilica or cathedral# The main chapel of a province of a religious order...
'.
By 1935 Mothering Sunday was less celebrated in Europe. There were efforts to revive the festival in the 1910s–1920s by Constance Penswick-Smith, but it wasn't revived until US World War II soldiers brought the Mother's Day celebrations to the UK,and it was merged with the Mothering Sunday traditions still celebrated in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. By the 1950s it had become popular in the whole of the UK, thanks to the efforts of UK merchants, who saw in the festival a great commercial opportunity. People from Ireland and UK started celebrating Mother's Day on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the same day on which Mothering Sunday had been celebrated for centuries. Some Mothering Sunday traditions were revived, such as the tradition of eating cake on that day, although they now eat simnel cake
Simnel cake
Simnel cake is a light fruit cake, similar to a Christmas cake, covered in marzipan, then toasted, and eaten during the Easter period in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some other countries. A layer of marzipan or almond paste is also baked into the middle of the cake...
instead of the cakes that were traditionally prepared at that time. The traditions of the two celebrations have now been mixed up, and many people think that they are the same thing.
Mothering Sunday can fall at the earliest on 1 March (in years when Easter Day falls on 22 March) and at the latest on 4 April (when Easter Day falls on 25 April).
United States of America
The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. Julia Ward HoweJulia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet, most famous as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".-Biography:...
first issued her Mother's Day Proclamation
Mother's Day Proclamation
The "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War...
in 1870 as a call for women to join in support of disarmament. In the 1880s and 1890s there were several further attempts to establish an American Mother's Day, but these didn't succeed beyond the local level. The current holiday was created by Anna Jarvis
Anna Jarvis
Anna Marie Jarvis is the founder of the Mother's Day holiday in the United States.-Biography:...
in Grafton, West Virginia
Grafton, West Virginia
Grafton is a city in, and county seat of, Taylor County, West Virginia, USA. The population was 5,489 at the 2000 census. The only two national cemeteries in West Virginia are located in Grafton. Mother's Day was founded in Grafton on May 10, 1908; the city is the home to the International Mother's...
, in 1908 as a day to honor one's mother. Jarvis wanted to accomplish her mother's dream of making a celebration for all mothers, although the idea didn't take off until she enlisted the services of wealthy Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker. She kept promoting the holiday until President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
made it an official national holiday in 1914.
The holiday eventually became so highly commercialized that many, including its founder, Anna Jarvis, considered it a "Hallmark Holiday
Hallmark holiday
"Hallmark holiday" is a disparaging term, used predominantly in the United States, to describe a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally significant event...
", i.e. one with an overwhelming commercial purpose. Jarvis eventually ended up opposing the holiday she had helped to create. She died in 1948, regretting what had become of her holiday. In the United States, Mother's Day remains one of the biggest days for sales of flowers, greeting cards, and the like; it is also the biggest holiday for long-distance telephone calls. Moreover, churchgoing
Church service
In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...
is also popular, yielding the highest church attendance
Church attendance
Church attendance refers to the reception of religious services offered by a particular church, or more generally, by any religious organisation.-Participation statistics:...
after Christmas Eve and Easter. Many worshipers celebrate the day with carnations, colored if the mother is living and white if she is deceased.
Commercialization
Nine years after the first official United States Mother's Day, commercialization of the holiday became so rampant that Anna JarvisAnna Jarvis
Anna Marie Jarvis is the founder of the Mother's Day holiday in the United States.-Biography:...
herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and spent all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuse of the celebration.
Later commercial and other exploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Jarvis and she made her criticisms explicitly known the rest of her life. She criticized the practice of purchasing greeting cards, which she saw as a sign of being too lazy to write a personal letter. She was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting against the commercialization of Mother's Day, and she finally said that she "wished she would have never started the day because it became so out of control ...".
Mother's Day continues to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association
National Restaurant Association
thumb|National Restaurant Association logoThe National Restaurant Association is a restaurant industry business association in the United States, representing more than 380,000 restaurant locations. It also operates the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation...
, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.
For example, according to IBISWorld
IBISWorld
- History :IBISWorld was formed in 1971 as IBIS Research Services. IBISWorld is a market research organization specializing in long range forecasting of industries and the business environment at large, with an emphasis on providing information for strategic planning and research purposes.Phil...
, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and another $68 million on greeting cards.
Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008, with custom gifts like mother's ring
Mother's ring
A mother's ring is a type of memorial jewelry. It has a birthstone for each of the children of a woman, either living or dead. They can represent a mother or grandmother's family, can include birthstones for other family members, and can be given upon the birth of a new child or...
s.
It's possible that the holiday would have withered over time without the support and continuous promotion of the florist industries and other commercial industries. Other Protestant holidays from the same time, like Children's Day
Children's Day
"Children Day", as an event, is celebrated on various days in many places around the world, in particular to honor children. Major global variants include a Universal Children's Day on November 20, by United Nations recommendation...
and Temperance Sunday, do not have the same level of popularity. Mother's Day is also prominent in the Sunday Funnies of the United States, ranging from sentimental to wry to caustic.
See also
- Children's DayChildren's Day"Children Day", as an event, is celebrated on various days in many places around the world, in particular to honor children. Major global variants include a Universal Children's Day on November 20, by United Nations recommendation...
- Father's DayFather's DayFather's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days...
- Hallmark holidayHallmark holiday"Hallmark holiday" is a disparaging term, used predominantly in the United States, to describe a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally significant event...
- International Mother's Day ShrineInternational Mother's Day ShrineAndrews Methodist Episcopal Church, the "mother church" of Mother's Day, was incorporated as the International Mother's Day Shrine on May 15, 1962, as a tribute to all mothers....
- International Women's DayInternational Women's DayInternational Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...
- May crowning
- Mothering SundayMothering SundayMothering Sunday is a Christian festival celebrated throughout Europe that falls on the 4th Sunday in Lent. Secularly it became a celebration of motherhood. It is increasingly being called Mother's Day, although in countries other than the UK and Ireland that holiday has other origins...
- National Grandparents Day