Like there is only one day each year that
one is a mother?
Being of an analytical mind I had to trace
the origins: apparently the Greeks already had a Spring festival dedicated to
the maternal goddesses, honoring Rhea, wife of Cronus, who was the mother of
many Deities in Greek mythology.
The Romans also enjoyed a Spring festival
called Hilaria dedicated to Cybele – a mother goddess. Side thought: is this
where we get the adjective hilarious – from how that festival might have been perceived?
Early Christians celebrated a Mother’s Day
of sorts when they honored Mary, the mother of Jesus on the fourth Sunday of
Lent.
The British had a “Mothering Sunday” where
even the servants were encouraged to contact their mothers, but our modern day
celebrations come mainly from Julia Ward Howe (1872) and then more formally
from Anna Jarvis who – although she never married nor had children – worked to
honor her mother and together with supporters lobbied politicians until Woodrow
Wilson signed a Joint Resolution establishing the second Sunday in May as
Mother’s Day. He did this on May 8, 1914!
Meanwhile many other nations have an
official celebration with the date varying so if your kids miss one (one son is
in France and they celebrate it in a couple of weeks so am betting that he
won’t have remembered: the other will wake up to the fact tomorrow most likely)
they can always use someone else’s.
Or, if you are lucky like me, they don’t
wait for just the one day of the year but are more spontaneous in their thanks
and remembrance of the fact that you are their mother.
So not to reproduce the same thoughts as
last year, here’s the link to the blog I wrote about being a mother.
With a newer photo of the two men who allow me the honor of being a mother on Mother's Day, as well as the rest of the 364 days of the year.
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| Christmas 2015 |
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