Mother’s Day, Mothering
Sunday, Mothers Day...you name it
Mother’s Day, Mothering Sunday, Mothers Day there is enough
to confuse the best of us. Also why is it celebrated on different days of the
year and not on the same day everywhere? As Mother’s Day is fast approaching
this year – 18th March – I thought it would be a fit topic for a blog. In a way
it is a journey around the globe discovering the history of this term and day
of celebration as well as the costumes connected to it.
Mothering Sunday Vs Mother's Day
Nowadays Mothering Sunday is often called Mother's Day in UK
and it is regarded as synonymous with Mother's Day, which is celebrated in
other countries around the world, although many still prefer the more
historically accurate ‘Mothering Sunday’.
Mother’s Day - History
The history of Mother's Day goes back many centuries – as
far as the Egyptians. Early Christians celebrated the Mother's festival on the
fourth Sunday of Lent to honour Mary, the mother of Christ. Later on, a
religious order, included the celebration of all mothers and named it as the
Mothering Sunday. English colonists settled in America discontinued the
tradition of Mothering Sunday because of lack of time, however in 1872 Julia
Ward Howe organized a day for mothers dedicated to peace. This was a landmark
in the history of Mother's Day.
Spiritual Origins of Mothers Day
The practice of honouring Motherhood is rooted in antiquity,
and past rites had strong symbolic and spiritual tones and tended to celebrate
Goddesses as the symbol of Mothers. The maternal objects of adoration ranged
from mythological female deities to the Christian Church itself. Only in the
past few centuries did celebrations of Motherhood develop a decidedly human
focus. The human touch to Mother’s Day is relatively new.
One of the earliest historical records of celebrating a ‘Mother’
deity can be found among the ancient Egyptians, who held an annual festival to
honour the goddess Isis, who was commonly regarded as the Mother of the
pharaohs.
The festival of Isis was also celebrated by the Romans who
used the event to commemorate an important battle and mark the beginning of the
Winter. Despite being an imported deity, Isis held a place at the Roman temple.
However the root in the Roman’s Mother’s Day is perhaps found more precisely in
the celebration of the goddess Cybele, or Magna Mater (the Great Mother).
Cybele derives from the Greek Goddess Rhea, who was the Mother of most of the
major deities, including Zeus. Rhea was celebrated as a mother goddess, and her
festival took place around the time of the Vernal Equinox (Spring equinox). In
Rome and Asia Minor (Roman empire), Cybele was the major Mother deity similarly
to Rhea, the mother of the Gods in Greek culture. The Roman celebration of
Cybele or Magna Mater fell around the 15 and 22 of March, at a similar time the
Greek would have celebrated Rhea.
Modern times celebrations
Another holiday/festival to celebrate and honour Motherhood
came from Europe. It fell on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 days of fasting
preceding Easter Sunday). Early Christians initially used this day to honour
the church in which they were baptized, and that they saw as their ‘Mother
Church’.
In the 1600's a decree in England broadened the celebration
to include all real Mothers and referred to the day as Mothering Day. During
this Lenten Sunday, servants and trade workers were allowed to travel back to
their towns of origin to visit their families. Mothering Day also provided a
one-day reprieve from the fasting and penance of Lent so that families across
England could enjoy a family feast and where mothers were the main guest of
honour. Mothers would be presented with cakes and flowers and overall the
mothers would get to see their distant children.
Mothering Day or Mothering Sunday in United Kingdom and
Ireland
Early Christians in England celebrated the Mother's festival
on the 4th Sunday of Lent to honour Mary, the mother of Christ. Interestingly,
later on a religious order stretched the holiday to include all mothers, and
named it as the Mothering Sunday. In the 16th century people working out of
their homes were expected to return to the "mother" church (the
spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from any harm).
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, this celebration is known
as Mothering Sunday. The practice of visiting one's ‘mother’ church every year
on the Lenten Sunday, meant that most mothers would be reunited with their
children as young apprentices and young women in service were released by their
masters to make the journey home that weekend to go visit their families.
In some Church of England churches, this day is the only day
during Lent when marriages can be celebrated.
In the early 1900s (1935), the practice of celebrating
Mothering Sunday fell into disuse. However, after the 2nd World War the
tradition started to be revived, partly inspired by what was happening in the
United States. Efforts were made to revive the festival in the 1910s–1920s, but
it wasn't after World War II when American soldiers brought Mother's Day
celebrations to the UK and they were merged with the tradition of Mothering
Sunday which was still celebrated by the Church of England. In the 1950s the
celebrations started gathering memento as were seen as a great commercial
opportunity.
Irish and UK people started to celebrate Mother's Day on the
4th Sunday of Lent, the same day on which Mothering Sunday had been celebrated
for centuries before. Some of the Mothering Sunday traditions were revived,
such as the tradition of eating cake on that day, although nowadays Simnel cake
is eaten instead of traditional cakes eaten in the olden days. The two
celebrations have now mixed up and many people think that they are the same
thing.
Recently the day was dubbed ‘Mother's Day’ or ‘Mothers' Day’
however sometimes ‘Mothers Day’ is also used.
Mothering Sunday, also known as...
Other names attributed to the festival of Mothering Day
were: Refreshment Sunday, Mid-Lent Sunday, Simnel Sunday and Rose Sunday.
Simnel Sunday as baking Simnel Cakes to celebrate the reunion of families
during Lent. Rose Sunday is sometimes used as an alternative title for Laetare
Sunday, as witnessed by the purple robes of Lent being replaced by
rose-coloured ones in some churches.
Simnel Cake – Facts
- Nowadays
the Simnel cake is strongly associated with this holiday. It was also that
Simnel Cakes became associated with Mothering Sunday as young
servants/maids were allowed to bake a cake to take home to their mother as
a gift. Fruit cakes known as "Simnel Cakes" became one of the
most common gifts on Mothering Sundays;
- Around
1600, when the celebration was only held in England and Scotland, a
different kind of pastry was preferred;
- In
England they served a cake called "Mothering Sunday Buns" with
raisin and butter icing;
- In
Northern England and Scotland some preferred "Carlings", a
pancake made of steeped peas fried in butter.
Simnel Cake
As with most Mothering Sunday customs and traditions, the
Simnel Cake has also a religious flavour: and on top of the cake are placed 11
marzipan balls, signifying 11 of the 12 apostles of Christ, excluding the
notorious apostle Judas, who had betrayed Jesus.
Mother’s Day in USA
The English colonists that settled in America discontinued
the tradition of Mothering Sunday because of lack of time. In 1872 Julia Ward
Howe organized a day for mothers dedicated to peace.
Julia Howe had become very distraught by the deaths during
the Civil War that she called on all mothers to come together to protest
against what she perceived as senseless killing. With this in mind she
organised an international Mother's Day celebrating peace and motherhood. This
has become the landmark in the history of modern Mother's Day.
Julia Howe even proposed to convert the 4th of July into
Mother’s Day and dedicate the day to peace. However the 2nd June was designated
for this celebration and in 1873, 18 women’s groups celebrated this new
Mother’s holiday in cities across North America.
Even not successful Julie Howe has planted the seed and in
1907 Anne Jarvis from Philadelphia set up a group to celebrate Mother’s Day and
to honour of her mother. The first Mother's Day was a church service honouring
Anna's mother to which Anna handed out white carnations, her mother's favourite
flowers. Anne Jarvis' hard work paid off when in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson
proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honour of mothers.
The celebration became more and more popular and it became more commercialised.
Anne Jarvis was not happy about this and in 1923 sued to
stop a Mother’s Day event and sale of flowers. During the 1930's she was
arrested for disturbing the peace at the American War Mothers group.
Watch the video to see what became of Anne Jarvis:
Anna Jarvis died in 1948, blind, poor and with no children.
She never knew that the care she received during her last years of her life had
been paid anonymously by The Florist's Exchange.
By the time of her death, over 40 countries observed the
Mother’s Day. Today white carnations are given to remember deceased Mothers,
and pink or red to pay tribute to Mothers who are alive.
Carnations
To this day every year the American President is required to
proclaim Mother’s Day holiday shortly before it is due and while he proclaims
the event a group of mothers, who has lost a child in the a war, set up a
protest against war. Mother’s day in America is celebrated the 2nd Sunday in
May.
Mothers Day in some parts of the World
The majority of countries celebrating Mother's Day do so on
the second Sunday of May.
Below are how some countries celebrate it:
Canada - Canada was
one of the first nations to pick up the US version of Mother’s Day,.
Argentina - Though
most of South America observes Mother's Day in May, Argentina celebrates it the
2nd Sunday in October. This is due to the country’s being located in the
southern hemisphere. This corresponds to Argentina’s springtime.
India - A
westernized version of Mother's Day is officially observed on 10th May mainly
in large cities. However, Hindus have been celebrating Durga Puja – a divine
mother derived from ancient Greece – with a 10 day festival in October. This
festival is now one of the biggest events in India and families spend weeks
preparing food and gifts.
Japan - Japanese
Christians were celebrating Mother’s Day based on the American practice. During
and after WWII the practice was banned along with all other western customs.
After the war, however, the tradition was taken up again to help comfort to the
Mothers who had lost children in the war and by 1949, the celebration of
Mother's Day had again spread throughout the country associated with an art
contest for children. The event was held every 4 years and the children would
enter a drawing of their mothers, and the winning drawings would tour through
Japan with an art exhibition celebrating Mothers and Peace. Today the Japanese
celebrate Mother's Day on 2nd Sunday of May.
Asia & Australia
as well as many Asian countries celebrate Mother’s Day drawing on from the
American’s tradition.
Bahrain - In Bahrain
Mother's Day coincides with the first day of spring, observed as March 21, the
same is in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.
China - China’s
Mother’s Day draws heavily from the United States’ tradition and carnations are
a very popular gift and the most sold type of flower. In 1997 it this day was
set to help poor mothers, especially in rural areas such as China's western
region. The official government's Chinese newspaper, explained in an article
that even though the tradition originates from the States, Chinese people can
accept the holiday because it is in line with the country's traditional ethics
of respect for the elderly and parents.
In recent years there has been other non-governmental
suggestion to celebrate Mother’s Day in memory of Meng Mu which is supported by
100 Confucian scholars. This group also asked to replace the carnations with
lilies, which in ancient times, were planted by Chinese mothers when children
left home. This festival remains unofficial and it is only celebrated in a
small number of cities
Hong Kong - Hong
Kong’s holiday is noted for its custom to pay respect to the parents of the
mother, if she is deceased.
Italy - The Italians
celebrate the day with a big feast and a cake. Typically Italian schoolchildren
will make something to bring home to their mothers and the family will take
care of the chores for the day. Mother's Day in Italy was celebrated for the
first time on 12th May 1957, in Assisi thanks to the initiative of a parish
priest. The celebration was so successful that the following year it was
adopted throughout Italy, where since then it is celebrated on the 2nd Sunday
in May.
Sweden - Sweden’s
Mother’s Day, which takes place on the last Sunday in May, has a strong
charitable focus: the Swedish Red Cross which sells small plastic flowers
leading up to the holiday, with the proceeds raised being given to poor mothers
and their children.
Thailand - Perhaps the
most unique Asian Mother's Day holiday takes place in Thailand. The celebration
coincides with the birthday of their beloved queen, Sirikit Kitayakara, who has
reigned since 1950. Her birthday, and therefore Mother's Day, takes place on
12th August.
Germany - In the
1920s, Germany had the lowest birth-rate in Europe. At the same time,
influential groups in society thought that mothers should be honoured. These
groups had one belief in common: the celebration of the values of motherhood.
In 1923 this resulted in the unanimous adoption of Mother's Day which they
imported from America and Norway and in 1925, the Mother's Day Committee
started focusing the holiday as being about the level of population Germany.
The holiday was seen as a means to get 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. Some local
authorities decided to make the holiday a day to support economically larger
families or single-mother families and subsidies were given to families in
economic needs.
During 1933–1945 with the Nazi party in power all changed
radically. They started promoting the role of mothers as that of giving healthy
children to the German nation. The Nazi party's intention was to create a pure
‘Aryan race’. Also the government promoted the death of a mother's sons in
battle as the highest embodiment of patriotic motherhood.
This new official Nazis spin brought discontent among
organizations such as the Catholic and Protestant churches and local women
organizations. Local authorities resisted the guidelines from the government
and kept assigning resource to families that were in economical need.
In 1938 the Nazi’s government started issuing an award
‘Mother’s cross’, 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. The award promoted loyalty among German women
and it was a popular even though it had little material value. The winners of
the award had to be examined by doctors and social workers according to genetic
and racial values that were considered beneficial. Friends and family were also
examined for possible flaws that could disqualify them, and they had to be
"racially and morally fit". Among the criteria they had to be
‘German-blooded’ and they could not have vices like drinking. Criteria against
were, for example, ‘unfeminine’ behaviour like smoking or poor housekeeping. Even
contact with a Jew could disqualify a potential recipient. Application of
policies was uneven as doctors promoted medical criteria over racial criteria,
and local authorities promoted economical need over any other criteria.
Nowadays Mother’s Day is celebrated on the 2nd Sunday of May
like most European counties.
Mother’s Day Trivia
- In
the vast majority of the world's languages, the word for
"mother" begins with the letter ‘M’;
- A
mother giraffe often gives birth while standing, so the new born first
experience outside the womb is a 1.8-meter drop;
- Just
like people, mother chimpanzees often develop lifelong relationships with
their offspring.
