International history and tradition
In most countries, Mother's Day is a recent observance derived from
the holiday as it has evolved in the United States. As adopted by other
countries and cultures, the holiday has different meanings, is
associated with different events (religious, historical or legendary),
and is celebrated on different dates.
In some cases, countries already had existing celebrations honoring
motherhood, and their celebrations then adopted several external
characteristics from the American holiday, such as giving carnations and
other presents to one's 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.
[citation needed]
Religion
In
Hindu
tradition Mother's Day is called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" or "Mother
Pilgrimage fortnight", and is celebrated in countries with a Hindu
population, especially in Nepal. The holiday is observed on the new moon
day in the month of
Baisakh,
i.e., April/May. This celebration is based on Hindu religion and it
pre-dates the creation of the Western-inspired holiday by at least a few
centuries.
[citation needed]
Countries
Indonesia
Mother's day (Indonesian: Hari Ibu) is celebrated nationally on 22 December. It was made an official day by President Soekarno under the Presidential Decree (Indonesian: Dekrit Presiden)
no. 316 year 1959, in the 25th anniversary of the 1928 third Indonesian
Women Congress. The day originally aimed to celebrate the spirit of
Indonesian women and to improve the condition of the nation. Today, the
meaning of Mother's Day has changed, and it 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 a day off from doing domestic chores.[44]
It is celebrated in the day of the first Indonesian Women Congress (Indonesian: Kongres Perempuan Indonesia) from 22 to 25 December 1928.[45][26] The meeting took place in a building called Dalem Jayadipuran[46] that now serves as the office of the Center of History and Traditional Values Preservation (Indonesian: Balai Pelestarian Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional) in Brigjen Katamso Street, Yogyakarta. It was attended by 30 feminist organizations from 12 cities in Java 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.[26] The congress aimed to improve women's rights on education and marriage.[47]
Indonesia also celebrates the Kartini Day (Indonesian: Hari Kartini) in 21 April, in memory of activist Raden Ayu Kartini. It celebrates the emancipation of women.[45] It was instituted in the 1938 Indonesian Women Congress.[47]
During President Suharto's New Order
(1965-1998), the government's propaganda used Mother's Day and Kartini
Day to inculcate into women the idea that they should be docile and stay
at home.[47]
Arab world
Mother's Day in most Arab countries is celebrated on 21 March, the
first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. It was introduced in
Egypt by journalist
Mustafa Amin[30] in his book
Smiling America
(1943). The idea was overlooked at the time. Later Amin heard the story
of a widowed mother who devoted her whole life to raising her son until
he became a doctor. The son then married and left without showing any
gratitude to his mother. Hearing this, Amin became motivated to promote
"Mother's Day". The idea was first ridiculed by president
Gamal Abdel Nasser
but he eventually accepted it and Mother's Day was first celebrated on
21 March 1956. The practice has since been copied by 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
Argentina
In Argentina it is celebrated on the third Sunday of October. It was
originally celebrated on 11 October, the old liturgical date for the
celebration of Virgin Mary (after the
Second Vatican Council the Virgin Mary festivity was moved to 1 January).
[24]
Around 1982, the national merchants asked that it be moved to the third
Sunday of October to reactivate sales in the second half of that month.
[31]
Australia
In Australia, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May.
The tradition of giving gifts to mothers on Mother's Day in Australia was started by Mrs Janet Heyden,
[32] 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
commercialised. Traditionally, the
chrysanthemum
is given to mothers for Mother's Day as the flower is naturally in
season during autumn and ends in "mum", a common affectionate shortening
of "mother" in Australia. Men will often wear a chrysanthemum in their
lapels in honour of mothers.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of the
month of May. In observance of the day discussion programs are
organized by government and non-governmental organizations. Reception
programs and cultural programs are organized to mark the day in the
capital city. Television channels air special programs, and newspapers
publish special features and columns to mark the day. Greeting cards,
flowers and gifts featuring mothers are in high demand at the shops and
markets.
Belgium
In
Belgium, Mother's Day (
Moederdag or
Moederkesdag in
Dutch and
Fête des Mères in
French)
is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. In the week before this
holiday children make little presents at primary school, which they will
hand over in the early morning. Typically, the father will buy
croissants
and other sweet breads and pastries, and bring these to the mother
while she is still in bed – the beginning of a day of pampering for the
mother. There are also many people who celebrate Mother's Day on 15
August instead; these are mostly people around
Antwerp, who consider that day (
Assumption) the classical Mother's Day and the one in May an invention for commercial reasons.
Bolivia
In Bolivia, Mother's Day is celebrated on 27 May. El
Dia de la Madre Boliviana was passed into law on 8 November 1927, during the presidency of
Hernando Siles Reyes. It commemorates the
Battle of La 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 is not a festive day, but all
schools make activities and festivities during this day.
[contradiction][13]
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 (
Young Men's Christian Association of Porto Alegre), on 12 May 1918. In 1932, the then President
Getúlio Vargas made official the date on the second Sunday of May. In 1947, Archbishop
Jaime de Barros Câmara,
Cardinal-Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, determined that this date was
also included in the official calendar of the Catholic Church.
It is not an official holiday (see
Public holidays in Brazil),
but it is widely observed and typically involves spending time with and
giving gifts to one's mother. Because of that, it is considered one of
the celebrations most related to
consumerism in the country, second only to
Christmas Day as the most commercially lucrative holiday.
[33]
Bulgaria
March 8th in Bulgaria is associated with International Women's Day.
The holiday honours women as human beings and also as equal partners.
Another Bulgarian holiday related to maternity and the family is
Babinden (Bulgarian
Бабинден), celebrated on 8 January.
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. A Québécois tradition is for Québécois men to
offer roses or other flowers to the women.
China
The day is becoming more popular in China, and carnations are a very popular gift and the most sold type of flower.
[34]
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.
[34] In the
People's Daily,
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."
[34]
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.
[35][36] 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.
[36] It remains an unofficial festival, except in a small number of cities.
The Czech Republic
The former Czechoslovakia celebrated Women's Day until the
Velvet Revolution 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.
[19]
Estonia
In
Estonia Mother's Day (
emadepäev in
Estonian) is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. It is recognized nationally, but is not a public holiday.
[37]
France
In France, amidst alarm at the low birth rate, there had been
attempts in 1896 and 1904 to make a national celebration honoring the
mothers of large families.
[38] In 1906 ten mothers who had 9 children each were given an award recognising "High Maternal Merit" ("Haut mérite maternel").
[citation needed]
American World War I soldiers fighting in France popularized the US
holiday created by Ann Jarvis; they sent so much mail back to their
country for Mother's Day that the
Union Franco-Américaine created a postal card for that purpose.
[38]
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 by
the anti-depopulation efforts than the US holiday, with medals being
awarded to the mothers of large families.
[38] The French government made the day official in 1920 as a day for mothers of large families.
[39] Since 1920 it awards the
Médaille de la Famille française to mothers of big families.
In 1941, by initiative of
Philippe Pétain, the wartime
Vichy
government used the celebration as part of their policy to encourage
larger families, but all mothers were now being honored, even the ones
who had small families.
[39]
In 1950, after the war, the celebration was reinstated. 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).
[citation needed]
During the 1950s the celebration lost all its patriotic and natalist ideologies, and became heavily commercialized.
[38]
Germany
In the 1920s, Germany had the lowest birthrate in Europe, and it was
still declining. This was attributed to women's participation in the
labor market. At the same time, influential groups in society
(politicians of left and right, churchwomen, and feminists) thought that
mothers should be honored but could not agree on how to do it. All
those groups strongly agreed on 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
[citation needed] 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 started being about raising the level of population in
Germany by promoting motherhood.
[40]
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 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 need rather than families with more children or
with "healthier" children.
[40]
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 the Nazis also
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.
[40][41]
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 economic need, much to the dismay of the Nazi
officials.
[40]
The government started issuing an award called
Mother's Cross (
Mutterkreuz)
in 1938, with categories that depended on the number of children. The
cross aimed to encourage women to have more children, and recipients had
to have at least four. For example, a gold cross recipient (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 reward 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 could not
have vices like drinking. Criteria against honors were, for example,
"family history contains inferior blood", "unfeminine" 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
economic need over any other criteria.
[40][41]
The holiday is now celebrated on the second Sunday of May, in a manner similar to other nearby European countries.
Greece
Mother's Day in Greece is celebrated on the second Sunday of May.
Hungary
In Hungary, Mother's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of May. It was first celebrated in 1925 by the Hungarian
Red Cross Youth.
India
The modern Mother's Day has been assimilated into Indian culture,
[42] and it is celebrated every year on the second Sunday of May.
[43] In India, mothers are considered as god to their children.
[citation needed] Indians do not celebrate the occasion as a religious one, but do their best to thank their mothers for care and love.
Traditionally, mothers are given great importance in Indian culture.
The day is celebrated mostly in urban centers, by performing special
acts to honour them and their contribution to the family. It is called
Matru Din (from
Sanskrit).
Iran
Celebrated on 20
Jumada al-thani, the birthday anniversary of
Fatimah,
[28][48],
Muhammad's only daughter according to
Shia Islam orthodoxy. It was changed after the
Iranian Revolution
(1979); the Islamic regime used the holiday as a propaganda tool to
undercut feminist movements and promote role models for the traditional
model of family, Fatimah was the chosen model of a submissive women that
was completely dedicated to traditional roles.
[28][49][50][51][49] The celebration is both Women's Day (replacing International Women's Day) and Mother's Day.
[28][49]
In 1960 the Institute for Women Protection adopted the Western holiday and established it in 25
Azar (16 of December) of the Iranian official calendar, the date the institute was founded. It had the support of Queen
Farah Pahlavi,
the wife of the last Shah of Persia, who promoted the construction of
maternity clinics in remote parts of the country to commemorate it. The
government used the holiday to promote its maternalist view of women,
and it honored and gave awards to women who represented the idealized
view of the regime, including mothers who had many healthy children.
[52]
Iraq
Mother's Day on 21 March.
Israel
The Jewish population celebrate Mother's Day on
Shevat
30 of the Jewish calendar, which falls anywhere between the 30th of
January and the 1st of March. It was set to the same day as the day
Henrietta Szold died. Henrietta had no biological children, yet her organization
Youth Aliyah
rescued many Jewish children from Nazi Germany and provided for them,
she also championed several children's rights. She is considered the
"mother" of all those children, and that is why her annual remembrance
day (יום השנה) 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 is called Family Day (יוֹם הַמִשְּפָּחָה, yom
hamishpacha). It is 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 is not an official
holiday either.
[27]
Italy
Mother's Day in Italy was celebrated for the first time on 12 May 1957, in the city of
Assisi, 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.
Japan
In Japan, Mother's Day (母の日,
Haha no Hi) was initially commemorated during the
Shōwa period as the birthday of
Empress Kōjun (mother of
Emperor Akihito)
on 6 March. This was established in 1931 when the Imperial Women's
Union was organized. In 1937, the first meeting of "Praise Mothers" was
held on 8 May, and in 1949 Japanese society adopted the second Sunday of
May as the official date. Nowadays it is a rather commercial holiday,
and people typically give flowers such as red carnations and roses as
gifts.
Latvia
Mother's Day in Latvia was celebrated for the first time in 1922.
From 1938, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. It is
recognized nationally, and is a public holiday.
[53]
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 Obregón imported the holiday from the US in 1922, with the newspaper
Excélsior making a massive promotion campaign that year.
[54]
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 was not good
for much more than breeding.
[54]
In the mid-1930s the leftist 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.
[55] The government sponsored the holiday in the schools.
[55]
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.
[55]
Soledad Orozco García, the wife of President
Manuel Ávila Camacho, promoted the holiday during the 1940s, making it into an important state-sponsored celebration.
[56]
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.
[56]
The catholic
National Synarchist Union (UNS) started paying attention to the holiday around 1941, due to Orozco's promotion.
[57] 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.
[58]
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.
[59]
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 capitalism and materialism in Mexican society.
[59]
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.
[59]
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.
[60]
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.
[60]
There is a consensus among scholars that the Mexican government
abandoned its revolutionary initiatives during the 1940s, including
efforts to influence Mother's Day.
[57]
Nowadays the "Día de las Madres" is an unofficial holiday in Mexico held each year on 10 May.
[61]
Netherlands
Mother's Day was introduced as soon as 1910 by the Dutch branch of the
Salvation Army.
[62]
The Royal Dutch Society for Horticulture and Botany, a group protecting
the interest of Dutch florists, made efforts to promote the holiday;
they hoped to emulate the commercial success achieved by American
florists.
[63]
They were imitating the campaign already underway by florists in
Germany and Austria, but they were aware that the traditions had
originated in the US.
[63]
Florists launched a major promotional effort in 1925. This included
the publication of a book of articles written by famous intellectuals,
radio broadcasts, newspapers ads, and the collaboration of priests and
teachers who wanted to promote the celebration for their own reasons.
[63] In 1931 the second Sunday of May was adopted as the official celebration date. In the mid 1930's the slogan
Moederdag - Bloemendag (Mother's Day - Flower's Day) was coined, and the phrase was popular for many years.
[64] In the 1930's and 1940's "Mother's Day cakes" were given as gifts in hospitals and to the
Dutch Queen, who is known as the "mother of the country".
[64]
Other trade groups tried to cash in on the holiday and to give new
meaning to the holiday in order to promote their own wares as gifts.
[64]
Roman Catholic priests complained that the holiday interfered with
the honouring of the Virgin Mary, the divine mother, which took place
during the whole month of May. In 1926 Mother's Day was celebrated on 7
July in order to address these complaints.
[65]
Catholic organizations and priests tried to Christianize the holiday,
but those attempts were rendered futile around the 1960's when the
church lost influence and the holiday was completely secularized.
[65]
In later years the initial resistance disappeared, and even leftist
newspapers stopped their criticism and endorsed Mother's Day.
[66]
In the 1980's the American origin of the holiday was still not widely
known, so feminist groups who opposed the perpetuation of gender roles
sometimes claimed that Mother's Day was invented by Nazis and celebrated
on the birthday of Hitler's mother.
[67]
Nepal
"Mata Tirtha Aunsi" ("Mother Pilgrimage fortnight"), or "Mata Tirtha
Puja" ("Mother Pilgrimage offering"), falls on the last day of the dark fortnight of the
Baishakh
month (April/May). The dark fortnight is the fifteen days from the full
moon to the new moon. "Mata" means mother. "Tirtha" means pilgrimage.
This festival is observed to commemorate and respect mothers, and is
celebrated by worshipping and giving gifts to mothers and remembering
mothers who have passed away. To honor mothers who have passed away it
is traditional to go in pilgrimage to the Mata Tirtha ponds, which are
six miles south west of central
Katmandu. The nearby
Mata Tirtha village is named after these ponds. Previously, the tradition was observed primarily by people from
Newar communities and people living in the valley. Now, this festival is widely celebrated by many communities.
There is a story regarding the origin of this pilgrimage site. In
ancient times the mother of a shepherd died, and he made offerings to a
nearby pond. There he saw the face of his mother in the water, with her
hand taking the offerings. Since then, many people visit the pond,
hoping to see their deceased mothers' faces. At the very least, people
believe that they will bring peace to their mothers' souls. Many tragic
folklore
legends have been created, suggesting different reasons for why this
pond became a pilgrimage site. Till this day, there are two small ponds.
The larger one is for bathing. The smaller one is to "look upon one's
mother's face" and it's fenced by iron bars.
[68]
On this day you must pay homage to your mother, in Nepali "Aama ko
Mukh Herne Din", the literal translation is "to see Mother’s face".
New Zealand
In New Zealand, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in
May. Mother's Day is not a public holiday. The New Zealand tradition is
to give cards and gifts and to serve mothers breakfast in bed.
Nicaragua
In Nicaragua the
Día de la Madre has been celebrated on 30 May since the early 1940s. The date was chosen by President
Anastasio Somoza García because it was the birthday of Casimira Sacasa, his wife's mother.
[23]
Maldives
In Maldives, Mother's Day is celebrated on 13 May. The day is
celebrated in different ways. Children give gifts and spend time with
their mothers.
Pakistan
In
Pakistan,
Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. Media channels
celebrate with special shows. Individuals honor their mothers by giving
gifts and commemorative articles. Individuals who have lost their
mothers pray and pay their respects to their loved ones lost.
Panama
According to another account, in 1924 the
Rotary Club
of Panama asked that Mother's Day be celebrated on 11 May. However,
politician Aníbal D. Ríos changed the proposal, so that the celebration
would be held on 8 December. He then established Mother's Day as a
national holiday on that date.
[69]
Palestine
Palestinians celebrate Mother's Day on 21 March, similar to other Arab countries
Paraguay
In
Paraguay Mother's Day is celebrated on 15 May, the same day as the
Dia de la Patria, which celebrates the
independence of Paraguay.
[21]
This date was chosen to honor the role played by Juana María de Lara in
the events of 14 May 1811 that led to Paraguay's independence.
[70]
In 2008 the Paraguayan Minister of Culture,
Bruno Barrios,
lamented this coincidence because, in Paraguay, Mother's Day is much
more popular than independence day and the independence celebration goes
unnoticed. As a result, Barrios asked that the celebration be moved to
the end of the month.
[71] A group of young people attempted to gather 20,000 signatures to ask the Parliament to move Mother's Day.
[71] In 2008 the
Comisión de festejos (Celebration Committee) of the city of
Asunción asked that Mother's Day be moved to the second Sunday of May.
[72]
Philippines
Mother's day in the Philippines is celebrated every second Sunday of May. A
Filipino
mother is called the "light of the household" around which all
activities revolve. Families treat mothers to movies or lunch or dinner
out, spend time with their mothers in a park or shopping at the mall, or
give their mothers time to pamper themselves. Most families celebrate
at home. Children perform most chores that the mother routinely handles,
prepare food or give their mothers small handcrafted tokens such as
cards.
Although in its current form Mother's Day is not a traditional Filipino holiday, this and
Father's Day owe their popularity to American influence.
Poland
In Poland, "Dzień Matki" ("Mother's Day") is celebrated on 26 May.
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 on the first Sunday of May.
[73]
Law 319/2009 made both Mother's Day and Father's Day official holidays
in Romania. The measure was passed thanks to campaign efforts from the
Alliance Fighting Discrimination Against Fathers (TATA).
[73] Previously, Mother's Day was celebrated on 8 March, as part of
International Women's Day (a tradition from the days when Romania was part of the
communist block). Now Mother's Day and Women's Day are two separate holidays, with Women's Day keeping its original date of 8 March.
Russia
Russia celebrates International Women's Day instead of Mother's Day,
an inheritance from the USSR. The holiday is usually called "Women's
Day" and is considered the Russian equivalent of Mother's Day.
[15]
It was first celebrated in 1913, and proclaimed in 1914 as the "day of struggle" for working women. After the
October Revolution
(1917) it served as propaganda tool for the Soviet government for
decades. In the 1920s-1930s it only encouraged women to get educated and
enter the working economy, since, according to Soviet propaganda, the
capitalist oppression had been removed and there was no longer any need
to "struggle" under the new regime. During the
Great Patriotic War
(1941–1945) it only recruited women for support positions in the Red
Army. During the 1940s it dropped any attempts to improve the situation
of women, and for the next decades it only boasted how Soviets had
benefited women. In the
Perestroika,
during the 1980s, it was put in doubt whether the holiday had
accomplished anything, but it kept being publicized as a day of
struggle. In the beginning of the 1990s, the holiday was stripped from
all of it former meanings, and it has become just a day to give flowers
to women.
[74]
Singapore
In Singapore, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May.
The day is celebrated by individuals but not recognized as a holiday by
the government. However, many companies offer special products and
services for the day.
Slovakia
Czechoslovakia celebrated only Women's Day until the
Velvet Revolution in 1989. After the country split 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, and social-democrats want to make Women's Day an official holiday.
Currently, both days are festive, but they are not "state holidays".
[19]
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, Mother's Day is celebrated every year on the second
Sunday of May. Although relatively new to Sri Lanka, this occasion is
now becoming more popular, and more people now honor their mothers on
this day. Mother's Day is celebrated by individuals but is not yet
recognized as a holiday on the government calendar. However, the day has
a commercial importance with many companies that offer special products
and services for the day.
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. Swedes born in the early nineteen hundreds
typically did not celebrate the day because of the common belief that
the holiday was invented strictly for commercial purposes. This was in
contrast to Father's Day, which has been widely celebrated in Sweden
since the late 1970s. Mother's Day in Sweden is celebrated on the last
Sunday in May. A later date was chosen to allow everyone to go outside
and pick flowers.
Switzerland
In Switzerland, the "règle de Pentecôte" law allows Mother's Day to
be celebrated a week late if the holiday falls on the same day as
Pentecost. However, in 2008, merchants declined to move the date.
[75]
Taiwan
In Taiwan, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of the month of May, coinciding with
Buddha's birthday
and the traditional ceremony of "washing the Buddha". In 1999 the
Taiwanese government established the second Sunday of May as Buddha's
birthday, so they would be celebrated in the same day.
[76][77]
Since 2006,
[78] the
Tzu Chi,
the largest charity organization in Taiwan, celebrates the Tzu Chin
Day, Mother's Day and Buddha's birthday all together, as part of a
unified celebration and religious observance.
[79][80][81]
Thailand
Mother's day in Thailand is celebrated on the birthday of the Queen of Thailand,
Queen Sirikit (12 August).
[82] The holiday was first celebrated around the 1980s as part of the campaign by the Prime Minister of Thailand
Prem Tinsulanonda to promote Thailand's Royal family.
[83] Father's Day is celebrated on the King's birthday.
[83]
Turkey
Turkey celebrates Mother's Day ("Anneler günü", literally "Mothers' Day") on the second Sunday in May.
Great Britain and
Ireland celebrate Mothering Sunday, which falls on the fourth Sunday of
Lent (18 March in 2012). This holiday has its roots in the church and was originally unrelated to the American holiday.
[5][84]
Most historians believe that Mothering Sunday evolved from the
16th-century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually
on
Laetare Sunday.
[5]
As a result of this tradition, most mothers were reunited with their
children on this day when young apprentices and young women in service
were released by their masters for that weekend. As a result of the
influence of the American Mother's Day, Mothering Day transformed into
the tradition of showing appreciation to one's mother. Commercialization
and
secularization further eroded the concept, and most people now see the holiday only as a day to make a gift to their mothers.
[citation needed] The holiday is still recognized in the original historical sense by some
churches, with attention paid to
Mary the mother of
Jesus Christ and the concept of the
Mother Church.
The custom was still popular by the start of the 19th century, but with the
Industrial Revolution, traditions changed and the Mothering Day customs declined.
[84] By 1935, Mothering Sunday was less celebrated in Europe.
[85]
Constance Penswick-Smith worked unsuccessfully to revive the festival
in the 1910s–1920s. However, US World War II soldiers brought the US
Mother's Day celebration to the UK,
[86] and the holiday was merged with the Mothering Sunday traditions still celebrated in the
Church of England.
[87]
By the 1950s, the celebration became popular again in the whole of the
UK, thanks to the efforts of UK merchants, who saw in the festival a
great commercial opportunity.
[87]
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.
[85] Some Mothering Sunday traditions were revived, such as the tradition of eating cake on that day, although celebrants now eat
simnel cake instead of the cakes that were traditionally prepared at that time.
[citation needed]
The traditions of the two holidays are now mixed together and
celebrated on the same day, although many people are not aware that the
festivities were once separate holidays.
[88]
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).
For many people in the United Kingdom, Mother's Day is now the time
of year to celebrate and buy gifts of chocolate or flowers for their
mothers as a way to thank them for all they do throughout the year.
United States
The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In 1872
Julia Ward Howe called for women to join in support of disarmament and asked for 2 June 1872 to be established as a "Mother's Day for Peace".
[6] Her 1870 "Appeal to womanhood throughout the world" is sometimes referred to as
Mother's Day Proclamation.
But Howe's day was not for honoring mothers but for organizing pacifist
mothers against war. In the 1880s and 1890s there were several further
attempts to establish an American "Mother's Day", but these did not
succeed beyond the local level.
[6] The current
holiday was created by
Anna Jarvis in
Grafton, West Virginia in 1908 as a day to honor one's mother.
[9]
Jarvis wanted to accomplish her mother's dream of making a celebration
for all mothers, although the idea did not take off until she enlisted
the services of wealthy Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker.
[89] Jarvis kept promoting the holiday until President
Woodrow Wilson made the day an official national holiday in 1914.
[6] 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.
[9][90] She died in 1948, regretting what had become of her holiday.
[89]
In the United States, Mother's Day remains one of the biggest days for
sales of flowers, greeting cards, and the like; Mother's Day is also the
biggest holiday for long-distance telephone calls.
[91] Moreover,
churchgoing is also popular on Mother's Day, yielding the highest
church attendance after Christmas Eve and Easter.
[92] Many worshipers celebrate the day with
carnations, colored if the mother is living and white if she is dead.
[92]
Commercialization
Nine years after the first official United States Mother's Day, commercialization of the holiday became so rampant that
Anna Jarvis
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.
[9]
Later commercialization and other exploitations of Mother's Day
infuriated Jarvis and she made her criticisms explicitly known the rest
of her life.
[9][90]
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
regretted having started it.
[90]
Mother's Day continues to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions.
It is 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, such as
Children's Day and
Temperance Sunday, do not have the same level of popularity.
[93] Mother's Day is also prominent in the Sunday
comic strips in the newspapers of the United States, expressing emotions ranging from sentimental to wry to caustic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day)
