Almost 50 countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day at some time during the year. We give our mothers cards, candy or flowers, serve them breakfast in bed, take them out for dinner – anything to show our love and appreciation for everything they do.
Different kinds of Mother’s Days have been celebrated for ages. The Ancient Greeks honoured all mothers every spring through festivities in honour of Rhea, the Mother of the Greek Gods.
In the 1600s, the people of England celebrated “Mothering Sunday” on the fourth Sunday of Lent (the 40-day period leading up to Easter) with a special cake called “mothering cake.” Poor servants of rich aristocrats were given the day off to go home to visit their mothers.
The Mother’s Day we know began in 1907. That was when Anna M. Jarvis began a letter-writing campaign for a national Mother’s Day, partly to pay special tribute to her own deceased mother, who had organized charity work for women in the Civil War and had always wanted a Mother’s Day. In 1914 it became an official national holiday in the United States. Now, in the U.S., Canada, and many other countries, Mother’s Day is on the second Sunday of May every year, the anniversary of Anna’s mother’s death.
Mother’s Day doesn’t have to be about buying gifts. Anna M. Jarvis wanted it to be a day for expressing our love and gratitude to our mothers, and sometimes making your own gift or doing something special can show that love better than a box of chocolates.
You can celebrate Mother’s Day by:
- Making your mother a card that tells her why you’re so glad she’s your mom.
- Drawing her a picture or writing her a story about the two of you.
- Creating a booklet of “tickets” she can use for things like “one hour of silence,” “one breakfast-in-bed,” “one Saturday morning sleep-in,” “one day of truce with my sister” or “one hour of quality time together.”
- Putting together a scrapbook of photos and mementos (like ticket stubs from a family skiing trip, or from a day at the CNE) to capture your memories for the future.
- Making a list of all the “hats” your mother wears -- like teacher, friend, cook, nurse, maid, chauffeur, editor, seamstress, referee, judge and cheerleader -- to give to your mother to show your appreciation for her
- Cooking all her favourite things for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and serving it to her. (Get your other parent or older siblings to help with the stove or knife.) If you want to go the extra mile, you can make menus and place settings, and even pick flowers to put in a vase.
- Giving her a hug.
- Telling her you love her.
But why celebrate only once a year? Mothers are special – let yours know how much you love her every day of the year!
And remember that Father’s Day is in June and Grandparents Day is in September...
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