Mother's Day

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The modern Mother's Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March, April, or May as a day to honor mothers and motherhood.

History
The first celebrations in honour of mothers were held in the spring in ancient Greece. They paid tribute to Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 17th century, England honored mothers on "Mothering Sunday," celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent. In the United States, Julia Ward Howe suggested the idea of Mother's Day in 1872. Howe, who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, saw Mother's Day as being dedicated to peace.
Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia is credited with bringing about the official observance of Mother's Day. Her campaign to establish such a holiday began as a remembrance of her mother, who died in 1905 and who had, in the late 19th century, tried to establish "Mother's Friendship Days" as a way to heal the scars of the Civil War.Two years after her mother died, Jarvis held a ceremony in Grafton, W. Va., to honor her. She was so moved by the proceedings that she began a massive campaign to adopt a formal holiday honoring mothers. In 1910, West Virginia became the first state to recognize Mother's Day. A year later, nearly every state officially marked the day. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed Mother's Day as a national holiday to be held on the second Sunday of May.
But Jarvis' accomplishment soon turned bitter for her. Enraged by the commercialisation of the holiday, she filed a lawsuit to stop a 1923 Mother's Day festival and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a war mothers' convention where women sold white carnations -- Jarvis' symbol for mothers -- to raise money. "This is not what I intended," Jarvis said. "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit!" When she died in 1948, at age 84, Jarvis had become a woman of great ironies. Never a mother herself, her maternal fortune dissipated by her efforts to stop the commercialisation of the holiday she had founded, Jarvis told a reporter shortly before her death that she was sorry she had ever started Mother's Day. She spoke these words in a nursing home where every Mother's Day her room had been filled with cards from all over the world.
Today, because and despite Jarvis' efforts, many celebrations of Mother's Days are held throughout the world. Although they do not all fall at the same time, such countries as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Belgium also celebrate Mother's Day on the same day as the United States.
Mother's Day In India
Thousands of years Hindus have been celebrating a ten-day festival, Durga Puja, honouring the divine mother Durga, in early October. But the more personal festival of 'Mother's Day' has also come to become a part of our culture now. What it offers is an opportunity to honor and show our appreciation for our flesh and blood mother - the one person who has stood by us through thick and thin.

2011 Celebration Dates Around the World
What day is Mothers Day? Depends on where in the world you are! Check out the list below to see what date Mothers Day falls on in your country:

  • February 13 - Norway
  • March 3 - Georgia
  • March 8 - Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Laos, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine.
  • March 14 - Ireland, Nigeria, United Kingdom
  • March 21 (first day of spring) - Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
  • March 25 - Slovenia
  • April 7 - Armenia
  • May 1 (first Sunday in May) - Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain
  • May 8 - Albania, South Korea (Parents' Day)
  • May 10 - El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico
  • May 8 - Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • May 26 - Poland
  • May 27 - Bolivia
  • May 29 (last Sunday in May) - Algeria, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mauritius, Morocco, Sweden, Tunisia, France (France is the last Sunday in May except if it coincides with Pentecost day (50th day after lent), in which case it is shifted to the first Sunday in June)
  • May 30 - Nicaragua
  • June 12 (second Sunday in June) - Luxembourg
  • June 26 (last Sunday in June) - Kenya
  • August 12 - Thailand (Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara's birthday)
  • August 15 - Costa Rica, Antwerp (Belgium)
  • October 10 (second Monday in October) - Malawi
  • October 14 - Belarus
  • October 16 (third Sunday in October) - Argentina
  • December 8 - Panama
  • December 22 - Indonedia

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