About Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day dates back from a festival in Ancient Greece, dedicated to the mother of all gods, named Rhea. She was the wife of Chronos (the god of time) and the mother of all of the gods and goddesses in Olympus.

Back in the 1600s, England would celebrate “Mother’s Saturday” in the fourth week of the Easter fasting, as a tribute to all mothers. Back then, most men were poor and would work as servants for the rich, and Mother’s Day would be celebrated in their employer’s home. The mothers had permission to spend that day with their loved ones.

Christianity replaced the “goddess mother” with the “mother – Church”, so most ceremonies that celebrated Cybele became dedicated to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. Mothers were the spiritual power that gave us birth and protection. In time, the two significations merged into one and it is now called “Mother’s Day”.

Julia Ward Howe first proposed celebrating Mother’s Day in 1872, also as a day of peace. Later on in 1907, there was a campaign lead by Ana Jarvis for establishing a national Mother’s Day date.

She managed to persuade the Virginia Church to celebrate Mother’s Day in May, two years after her own mother had passed.

Julia had been very attached to her mother, and after her death she and her sister fought hard for a special Mother’s Day. It would be more than a day for mothers, but also one for children, that would make them appreciate their parents love even more.

Julia was convinced that a day for mothers would lead to a growing respect for parents and would bring families closer together.

Following Julia’s campaign, the first ever Mother’s Day was set on May 10^th 1908. The traditional flowers associated with the occasion are carnations, Mrs. Jarvis’ –Julia’s mother-favorite flowers. Now, red carnations are the symbol of a mother still among us, while white carnations celebrate the loss of a mother.

1910 brought the first Mother’s Day proclamation, read by Virginia’s governor. This day was then celebrated by Oklahoma too, starting the same year, and from then on it became a cross-country celebration.

1914 was the year when Mother’s Day became a national holiday in the second Sunday in May. Nowadays, many countries celebrate it on different dates, but Denmark, Finland, Italy, Australia and Belgium have it on the same date as in the USA.

Mothering Sunday is in the UK it is considered synonymous with Mother’s Day as celebrated in other countries and is celebrated  in  the 4th Sunday in Lent.     Mothering Sunday in UK in 2011 – 3 April