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If you thought that Mother's Day was just another commercially-motivated holiday, designed more to line the coffers of the card makers than to celebrate motherhood, think again!
In an age when every other weekend seems to bring one "special" day or another, there are still some genuine traditions left out there - Mother's Day is just one of them.
Mother's Day down through the ages
First celebrated by the ancient Greeks, in honour of Rhea, the mother of the Gods, Mother's day has been around in some shape or form ever since.
It was in seventeenth-century England, however, that Mothering Sunday first started to take on the form that we now recognise. Those were the days of servants and landed gentry, when children would go into "service" at a relatively young age, often moving far from home to live with their employers. On Mother's day, though, those children were given the day off, and would head back home to be with their mothers - often bringing with them flowers plucked from the hedgerows, and a special "Mothering Cake" (or "Simnel cake") as gifts.
Mother's Day didn't reach America until 1872, when Julia Ward Howe organised a special day for mothers. Anna M. Jarvis picked up on the tradition in 1907, when she started to campaign for an official celebration of mothers and motherhood. President Woodrow Wilson finally obliged in 1914, naming the second Sunday in May a national holiday - Mother's Day.
Mother's Day across cultures
Although many other countries have followed the US's example by celebrating Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May, it's far from a universal date. Mother's Day is celebrated as early as February in Norway, and as late as December in Iran, with a smattering of other dates in between.
It's not just the date of Mother's Day which depends on where you happen to be in the world, though: the manner in which it's celebrated varies from culture to culture, too.
India's Mother's Day celebration is perhaps the longest. It last for ten days in October, in a celebration known as " Durga Puja", with "Durga" being a goddess said to protect the people from evil. In the former Yugoslavia, meanwhile, the Western tradition is reversed, with mother's expected to give gifts to their children, rather than the other way around! This follows a tradition whereby children sneak into their mother's room early in the morning, and tie her up: the mother must reveal where she has hidden the presents in order to be untied…
Mother's Day gifts
In the Western world, of course, one thing remains the same year after year, and that's the type of gifts we give our mothers on Mother's Day. According to a study carried out by Hallmark cards, despite all the great gifts now available to us, most mothers in the UK are still waking up to cards, flowers and gift cards, with jewellery and perfume not far behind. Most of us will also either bring our mother's breakfast in bed or take her out for dinner or lunch to celebrate the day. When it comes to celebrating Mother's Day, then, we're all still following tradition, even although we no longer need to!
Click here to see our fabulous Mother's Day Gifts ... |
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