Mother's Day means... LOVE is in the air, AGAIN.
Every year on the 2nd Sunday of May, mothers all over the world are celebrated and honored by millions. This special day is known as Mothers Day. In fact, Mothers day is the second largest gift giving day other than Christmas and is celebrated in over 60 countries. Mother's Day gifts show appreciation and don't have to be expensive. What did you know about this special holiday? How long have our moms been given their well deserved recognition?
It all began with a Greek goddess named Rhea. Every spring the Greeks had a festival, honoring Rhea-the mother of Greek goddesses. The Romans and the Celtic pagans also had their own celebrations honoring a mother goddess. Time moved on and the Greek goddesses were now in history books. But moms were not forgotten. In 1912 a woman named Anna Jarvis decided that Americans should set a side one day each year to pay tribute to our moms. Her own mother was an activist who ran a campaign trying to have a mother’s work day. But she would not live to see this happen. Anna made sure she carried out her mom’s dream and in 1914, Mother’s day was declared a national holiday. But Anna wasn’t all together thrilled when Mothers Day became a huge hit. When Mother’s Day became too commercialized she opposed the holiday that she helped create.
Mothers Day is celebated in many countries. But do they all celebrate the second Su day of May? The answer to this is-no. Armenia celebrates on April 7th, while Poland celebrates on May 26th. Seventy other countries including the U.S. all celebrate the second Sunday in May. And there’s even a holiday for Step moms. So, if you fall in the category of having this type of mom, you can surprise her with a gift on May1st. My bet is that she’ll wonder why she’s getting a present from you. Most people aren’t aware that Stepmother’s day even exists. The last Sunday of September constitutes yet another special day honoring moms, Gold Star Mothers Day. In 1936, Gold Star Mother's Day was proclaimed by the President as a national holiday. Any mother who has lost a child in war can become a Gold Star mom!
Now that you’ve been educated, how about those mother day gifts. If your mom is anything like mine, she’ll tell you she’d be thrilled with a home made card. But we all know that we want to shower our mom’s with that special something. My mom had 8 children. She was a stay at home mom who cooked and cleaned, and still found time to bake home made cookies or read a story to her children at night. My dad traveled often, leaving her to grow octopus arms. These days we call that-multi tasking! I know my mom means well, but nothing is too good for her. Here is a link that may be helpful if you’re not sure what to get for your mom.
And now that I’m a mom, I have a new found appreciation for my own mother. I find it hard with 2 children, let alone 8. My mom had 5 babies in diapers at once. Then a few years later there were five children with raging hormones. That could send anyone to the funny farm. I am here to say that she never had to go there, although she probably would have preferred the funny farm to a rough day with all of us. And then there’s my best friend who has 3 boys and a 5 year old girl. If you’ve done the Math, that adds up to 4 children! Sometimes when I call her house, I think I’ve dialed the number to that fumy farm. When it’s all said and done, were all trying to do the same thing…raise kids to be happy, productive adults.
And when it comes to moms…we all have them. And most of us look forward to that one special day when we can love then just a little but more…Mother’s Day!