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Mother’s Day 2012 Why We Celebrate Mothers Day

Google doodles On Mother’s Day 2012

The Mother’s Day is celebrated on various dates and days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in month of March, April or May as a day to honor mothers and motherhood. This day is also known as Mothering Sunday, that’s because it will celebrated on Sunday only. Mothering Sunday is a time when children pay respect to their Mothers. Children often give their Mothers a gift and a card. 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. Mothering Sunday was also known as ‘Refreshment Sunday’, Pudding Pie Sunday ( in England) or ‘Mid-Lent Sunday’.

Mothering Sunday or Mothers Day didn’t celebrate on a fixed month or day because it is always the celebrate on middle Sunday in Lent (which lasts from Ash Wednesday to the day before Easter Sunday). This means that Mother’s Day in the UK will fall on different dates each year and infect sometimes it in fall in different months also.

Mothering Sunday has been celebrated in the UK on the fourth Sunday in Lent approx. from the 16th century.

History of Mother’s Day

In the United States of America (USA), Mother’s Day started about one and Half century ago, when a lady named Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, a cause she believed would be best advocated by mothers. She announced that day as “Mother’s Work Day.”

In the year 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life work of her mother. The young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers.”

Anna starts to lobby prominent businessmen like John Wannamaker, and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a special day to honor mothers and motherhood. At one of the first services organized to celebrate Anna’s mother in 1908, at her church in West Virginia, Anna handed out her mother’s favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother’s Day. In 1914 Anna’s hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s Day as a national holiday.

At first, people celebrate Mother’s Day by attending Church, writing letters to their mothers, and eventually, by sending cards, presents, and flowers. With the increasing gift-giving activity associated with Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis became enraged. She believed that the day’s sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of greed and profit. In 1923 she filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother’s Day festival, and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a convention selling carnations for a war mother’s group. Before her death in 1948, Jarvis is said to have confessed that she regretted ever starting the mother’s day tradition.

Despite Jarvis’s misgivings, Mother’s Day has flourished in the United States. In fact, the second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers.

Celebration of Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a one of the greatest reason to have a party and fun with family and close friends. Celebrating Mom’s Day with the whole clan can be a great reason for a family reunion if your family is scattered across the miles.

Getting everyone together for a picnic, brunch, garden party or barbecue can be fun and easy – and what a nice gift it makes for a mother…having all of her children together having a good time with her as the guest of honor.

In different countries Mother’s Day is celebrated in different way.

Mother’s Day In England

Mothers Day or Mothering Sunday is celebrated in a big way in England. Childrens give tribute to their mom’s and say thank them for all their love and support. An environment of excitement prevail on the day and marketers make all efforts to make big profits out of the euphoria. Flowers record their maximum sale in England on that day. Peoples way to express their love for their mothers by gifting them flowers more than anything else. Most popular flowers on Mothers Day in Great Britain are roses followed by carnations and chrysanthemums. In UK, there is also a tradition of making a rich almond cake for mothers called ‘Mothering Cake’ or ‘Simnel Cake’ on Mothers Day.

Mother’s Day in USA

It’s said that Mother’s Day was first suggested in the United Sates by Julia Ward Howe in 1872 as a day dedicated to peace after the Franco Prussian War. The holiday gained its popularity majorly due to the efforts of Anna M. Jarvis.

Mothers Day is celebrated in USA in a big way and has been commercialized to a great extent. It is considered as the next big day after Christmas and Valentines Day. Phone lines record a heavy traffic and card sales reaches its peak. Restaurants are filled to their maximum capacity as children don’t want their mothers to cook on their special day.

Children express love for their mother by treating their moms with breakfast in the bed. Tradition of gifting flowers and gifts is also rampant. More commonly gifted flowers are carnations are these are the official flower of Mothers Day. People buy red or pink carnations for the mothers who are living and place white carnations on the grave of the mothers who are dead. Children also present skits, plays and song in honor of their mother. Some also make cards and gifts at home to show their gratitude for their mother.

Mother’s Day in India

The concept of celebrating Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May is very new in India and it can be said that in a time span of less than a decade, Mother’s Day has been a great success. It is a remarkable achievement for a foreign festival to make its presence felt in the vast and culturally diverse country like India. Indians too take Mother’s Day as a time too reflect on the importance of mothers in their life. They take it is time to think about all the pains their mother took while they were sick, the hardships she went through in bringing them up and all the sacrifices she made so that they lead a better life. In the capital city of Delhi, Mothers Day is celebrated in a big way and has been commercialized to a great extent. Big companies launch various women oriented products on the day and restaurants try to lure people with attractive advertisements. Media too creates a big hype about the day with special programs and features. Looking at the fast pace at which the excitement for Mothers Day is growing it will not be long when the Mother’s Day will be noted as the national festival of India.

Mother’s Day in Italy

Mother’s Day in Italy was celebrated for the first time on May 12, 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.

Mother’s Day in Japan

Mother’s Day in Japan was initially commemorated during the Showa period as the birthday of Empress Kojun (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.

Mother’s Day in Spain

Mother’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of May in Spain. Like elsewhere, this day is observed throughout the country to honor all mothers. Shops all over Spain make a brisk business selling chocolates, flowers, greeting cards and many other presents for Mother’s Day which find a great favor with children although many of them prefer to handcraft the greetings and presents for their mothers.

Mother’s Day in Australia

In Australia, Mothers Day is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and joy. It falls on the same day as in US – on the second Sunday in the month of May and is celebrated in a similar fashion as in US. People of Australia take Mothers Day as an opportunity to express gratitude to their mother.

Just as in US there is a tradition of wearing carnation on Mothers Day in Australia. A colored carnation signifies that a person’s mother is living while a white carnation is used to honor a deceased mother. Besides their own mothers children honor their grand mothers and other women who love and care for them as a mother does. Children ponder over the role of mothers in their lives and acknowledge the hardships their mother go through while raising them up.

In Australia, Mother’s Day has been commercialised to a great degree as it is in US. Marketers try to play on the emotional aspect of the festival to sell their goods. Card manufacturers and florists particularly see a high business.

Mother’s Day in Mexico

In the North American country of Mexico, Mothers Day is celebrated on a fixed day of May 10 as opposed to the Mothers Day in US that fall on the second Sunday in the month of May. Mothers Day in Mexico is celebrated in a colorful fashion. Children honor their mothers and thank them for their efforts in bringing them up and According to a custom in Mexico, sons and daughters make themselves present in the house on the eve of Mothers Day on May 8.

Mothers Day celebration in Mexico takes place on May 10 as the day is special for the people of Mexico. The day is celebrated with gusto as churches in Mexico organise special mass. The highpoint of the event is the orchestra which plays “las mañanitas” and distribution of ‘tamales’ and ‘atole’, the traditional early-morning meal to all local mothers.

On Mother’s Day people in Mexico gift flowers and cards to their mothers. There is also a tradition of giving gifts on Mothers Day. While the older children but gifts from the store the younger ones prepare handmade gifts to honor their mothers. In several schools mothers day functions are organised where little ones present skits and songs to express their gratitude for their mothers and to entertain them.

Mother’s Day in Canada

In Canada, cards and flowers are the most commonly used methods of expressing love for moms. Mothers Day is a the most popular festival after Christmas and Valentines Day. Just as in USA, Mother’s Day in Canada is celebrated in the second Sunday in the month of May. As Mother’s Day is a festival with strong emotional value, it has been commercialized to a large extent with compelling advertising strategies in the technologically advanced country of Canada.

Mother’s Day in France

The French do not celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May as the Americans do. Instead, mom’s special day is reserved for the last Sunday in the month of May. A family dinner is the norm, and traditionally the mother being honored is presented with a cake that looks like a bouquet of flowers. Consider making your mother a flower bouquet cake on the last Sunday in May and celebrate Mother’s Day with the people of France.

Mother’s Day New Zealand

In New Zealand, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. It is not a public holiday.

Mother’s Day in 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 Tinsulanonda to promote Thailand’s Royal family. Father’s Day is celebrated on the King’s birthday.

Mother’s Day Dates

In the United States, Mother’s day, the day to celebrate mother is observed on the following dates:

2009 – May 10th, Sun
2010 – May 9th, Sun
2011 – May 8th, Sun
2012 – May 13th, Sun
2013 – May 12th, Sun

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