Mother's Day
Mothering Sunday, or Mother's Day, is celebrated on various dates in many parts of the world. In Malta and Italy, it is celebrated on the second Sunday of May, which this year is the 14th May. The United Kingdom together with Ireland and Nigeria has stuck to the fourth Sunday in Lent, this year being the 19th March.
Mothering Sunday celebrations are part of the liturgical calendar in several Christian denominations, including Anglicans, and in the Catholic calendar it is marked as Laetare Sunday, (the Sunday of Joy), to honour the Virgin Mary and the "mother" church. Children and young people who were "in service" (servants in rich households) were given a day off on that date so they could visit their families. The children (young and old) would pick wild flowers on the way to give them to their mothers as gifts.
A Brief History
The first celebration of Mother's Day was in the United States following the "Mother's Day proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe. Written in 1870, it was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The proclamation was tied to Howe's belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level. Eventually, International Women's Day was celebrated for the first time on 28th February 1909, by which time a woman named Anna Jarvis had already begun her national campaign in the US, and International Women's Day is now celebrated in many countries on 8th March, and the two celebrations of Women's Day and Mother's Day have become distinctive and separate celebrations.
As other countries and cultures adopted the US holiday, the date was changed to fit already existing celebrations honouring motherhood, like Mothering Sunday in the UK or the Orthodox celebration of Jesus in the temple by Greece. In some countries it was changed to dates that were significant to the majority religion, such as the Virgin Mary day in Catholic countries, or the birthday of the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad in Islamic countries. Other countries changed it to historical dates, like Bolivia using the date of a certain battle in which women participated.
In most countries, Mother's Day is a recent observance, and when it was adopted from the US by other countries and cultures, it was given different meanings associated to different events (religious, historical or legendary), and celebrated on a different date or dates. Some countries already had existing celebrations honouring motherhood, and their celebrations adopted several characteristics of the US holiday, like giving flowers and other presents to one's mother.
While in the Catholic Church the holiday is strongly associated with the Virgin Mary, in Hindu tradition it is called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" or "Mother Pilgrimage Fortnight", and is celebrated on the day of the new moon in the month of Baisakh, i.e. April/May. It pre-dates the creation of the Western inspired holiday by at least a few centuries. Some Islamic scholars are averse to what they see as a Western tradition and have published fatwas against dedicating a single day to honour mothers, as it detracts from honouring them all year round.
Gifts
A woman Janet Heyde, started the tradition of giving a gift to mothers on Mother's Day in Australia in 1924. She began the tradition during a visit to a patient at a State Home for Women, where she met many lonely and forgotten mothers. To cheer them up, she rounded up support from local schoolchildren and businesses to donate and bring gifts to the women. Every year thereafter, Janet raised more support from local businesses and even the local mayor. It didn't take long for the day to become commercialised as it is to this day.
Even in China, a country that is against modern western ideas, Mother's Day is becoming more popular, and carnations are a very popular gift and the flower is the most sold. In 1997 it was set as the day to help poor mothers, especially those in rural areas.
In Germany this day had been turned to practical use and used for propaganda purposes. In the 1920s, Germany had the lowest birth rate in Europe, and this was attributed to women's participation in the labour market. At the same time, all influential groups in society (politicians, churchwomen and feminists) thought that mothers should be honoured, but they couldn't agree on how to do it. All those groups agreed with the promotion of the values of motherhood, and this resulted in the unanimous adoption in 1923 of the Muttertag, the Mother's Day holiday.
Today
Although the second Sunday in May seems to be the most popular day for celebrating Mother's Day, with no less than 90 countries choosing this particular day, other countries have dedicated different days throughout the year. Three countries, namely Israel, Nepal and Iran set the date according to the Lunar Calendar. Very few, if any, countries do not celebrate Mother's Day.
Mother's Day in Italy was celebrated for the first time on 12th May 1957 in the city of Assisi. This meant that Italy was one of the last countries to introduce this tradition. The celebration in Assisi was so successful that the following year it was adopted throughout Italy.
Although we now celebrate many more specific dates, including Father's Day, Mother's Day has enjoyed a special position in the yearly calendar of events. Even within today's modern world, mothers still enjoy a special position within the family, and like many other people around the world, the Maltese people have, and show, great love for their mothers.