Mother's Day

Mother’s Day in UK has a religious intonation especially for the Christians for it is celebrated in conjunction with Mothering Sunday which is a Christian holiday celebrated on the 4th Sunday during the period of Lent.

From the Secular perspective however, the day is one to pay tribute and respect to mothers and mother figures in general.

Background of Mother’s Day in UK:

During the sixteenth century, there was this custom for people to return to their native church on the fourth Sunday during the period of Lent, known as Laetare Sunday. This tradition was known as “a-mothering”. This was the period when people who were in service at places away from their hometown got leave, and the day became an occasion for reunion and jubilation.

However, by the 1920s the custom of religiously celebrating this day kept fading. The movement of Anna Jarvis in the United States to promote Mother’s Day had rippling effect in the United Kingdom too, and the movement fast gained popularity in continental Europe.

During the period of 1914, inspired by the movement of Anna Jarvis, Constance Penswick-Smith started the Mothering Sunday Movement. In 1921 she penned a book to uphold the revival of the festival. UK based retailers saw in this the commercial opportunity and backed her in her movement, and by the 1950s Mother’s Day was firmly established in United Kingdom.

Date of Mother’s Day in UK in the next few years:

In United Kingdom, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of the Christian observance of Lent, each year, and is also known as Mothering Day.

In 2014, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, March 30.
In 2015, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, March 15.
In 2016, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, March 06.
In 2017, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, March 26.
In 2018, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, March 11.
In 2019, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, March 31.
In 2020, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, March 22.

Observances on Mother’s Day:

Originally Mothering Sunday was the time when people visited the Church in which they were baptized or the one they attended service as children. This was actually a reunion of family, friends and neighbors for people returned to their native place during this time of the year even if they had scattered away from it due to the needs of life. In old England, it was the custom for the household helps to get holiday on this day. These people, usually young ones, generally took some food or clothing along with them for their family, especially their mother, on such visits. This established the trend of taking a gift for one’s mother on this day.

There was also this traditional custom of baking and devouring the Simnel Cake on this day in honor of one’s mother. This was considered a break from the fasting period of Lent during which people usually refrained from eating rich food like eggs, meat, dairy products etc. Simnel Cake is basically a light fruitcake that was baked with a layer of marzipan on top and also in the middle. These cakes were often decorated with eleven or twelve balls made of marzipan – the first eleven each representing the eleven disciples, and the twelfth one Jesus Christ. According to some scholars the cake was named after Lambert Simnel who worked in the kitchen of the then King of England Henry VII sometime around the 1500s.

Flowers also have a special part in Mother’s Day celebration. Carnations are considered special for the occasions. Once upon a time it was a custom to wear carnations in one’s lapel while attending Church services on this day – a red one to cheer for one’s living mother; and a white one if one was honoring a deceased mother. This tradition however faded with time, and today most people simply send their moms bouquets of their favorite bloom.

These days, people uphold the secular side of the celebrations more as they take this opportunity to spend more time with their mothers or other mother figures like aunt, grandmother, teacher or a mentor. Rushes at retailers and restaurants prove the commercial success of the day. People gift their moms a pampering day to show their love and the moms enjoy all of the unadulterated affection.

Mother’s Day celebrations have gained momentum, especially in urban India, and it is celebrated on the second Sunday of the month of May every year with much fanfare. In India Mothers have always been put in a high pedestal.

It has always been imbibed in children that their Mother is Goddess personified in their life.

Traditionally, in the Hindu culture, mothers have been paid homage during the worship of Goddesses in different forms. However, modern day celebrations of Mother’s Day have nothing to do with religious rituals.

However, the day is looked up upon to reflect on a Mother’s (or a mother figure’s) contribution to a child’s life, and the influence of Mothers in shaping the society. Mother’s Day in India is a private celebration whereby an attempt is made to strengthen the familial bonding.

Background of Mother’s Day:

The celebration of Mother’s Day was initiated in the Unites States of America in a period that is estimated to be in the early 20th Century. It is believed that Mother’s Day in its modern form was first celebrated in 1908. In Grafton, Virginia, a lady named Anna Jarvis organized for a memorial for her mother. She then started to campaign to make Mother’s Day an established holiday in the United States. Finally in 1914 Jarvis was finally successful in having Mother’s Day as a fully recognized holiday. Soon it became popular in other countries as well, and more and more people began to celebrate Mother’s Day in all parts of the world. The commercial companies were fast to pick up the trend and act upon it luring people with products crafted especially for the occasion.

By 1920 the event became so commercialized that Jarvis expressed her disappointment about it. Meanwhile, in 1912 Jarvis formed the Mother’s Day International Association and put a trademark on the phrases “second Sunday in May” and “Mother’s Day”. Finally U.S. President Woodrow Wilson passed the law by which Mother’s Day was declared to be an official holiday in the United States. However, if we trace history we shall find that celebrations to honor mother or motherhood existed even in the ancient times. However, Jarvis claimed that those did not influence her to draft the modern day customs related to Mother’s Day. As this holiday began to get popular many other countries and cultures adopted it, some changing it a little to fit their ideas, heritage history or ideologies. In United Kingdom, for example, Mothering Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

Mother’s Day in India

In Indonesia they celebrate it in December on the date when the Indonesian Women’s Congress was formed. In Iran, the day is celebrated on the 20th day of the sixth Islamic month in accordance to the lunar Hijri calendar for it is believed to be the birth anniversary of Fatimah, the Prophet’s only daughter. Countries that formerly adhered to Communist principles thought the present day form of Mother’s Day to be capitalist in Nature. As such in countries like Russia, Kyrgyzstan or Ukraine the International Women’s Day is treated with more reverence for they think this day to be of a socialist nature. Such examples are many. But in India the traditions have come in sync with the American custom.

Date of Mother’s Day in the Next Five Years:

In 2014, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, May 11.
In 2015, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, May 10.
In 2016, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, May 8.
In 2017, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, May 14.
In 2018, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, May 13.
In 2019, Mother’s Day would be on Sunday, May 12.

Public life on Mother’s Day in India:

Although the celebrations of Mother’s Day have caught up with people in India, there is no change in public life in India. All retails and businesses are open on this day. Public transportation system operates normally on this day. The only hitch that a person may face is a high waiting time in certain places like restaurants, theatres etc.

Celebrations in India:

The relevance of Mother’s Day in India has picked up with the changing times because today people have spread far and wide all across the globe in search for prosperity, either for higher education or for professional requirements. As such, not all children live with their mother under the same roof all the year, which is a sharp contrast to the social system prevalent in India in the earlier times where a joint family was the norm. Because of this swing in the social system, the importance of this day has increased manifold. Now even amidst the hustle and bustle of busy life people try to connect with their mother or someone whom they consider to be a mother figure in their life on the Mother’s Day, and make the special lady feel even more special, and at times even pampered. It is a tribute to all the pains and hardships that a mother goes through to give a bright and happy life to her child. All these being said it has also to be accepted that Mother’s Day celebrations are more common in the cities than in the parts of the country that are in the interiors.

Media and the market present before people a plethora of different gift ideas ranging from something as simple yet timeless as a greeting card together with a bouquet of flowers to something as exotic as a vacation package or as expensive as a precious piece of jewelry. Many companies choose to launch some of their ladies’ products during this time. Restaurants and spa-salons see a meteoric rise in footfall, so do retailers and shopping malls, and even multiplex theatres. Apart from all these personal pampering, there are also some seminars and programs arranged during this time which highlight upon the social or medical wellbeing of women in general or mothers in particular. In a nutshell, it is one day of the year when mothers feel really special and pampered.