History of Mother's Day

When Rhea, the mother of the gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, among others, was honored in ancient Greece, the first Mother's Day celebrations took place. When the Romans adopted it from the Greeks, they gave it the name La Hilaria. On March 15th, it is celebrated in the Cybele temple, where sacrifices are made for three days.

Early Christians transformed these celebrations into the Mother Goddess in honor of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Catholic saints December 8 is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a date that is kept in the celebration of Mother's Day in some countries such as Panama.

In the seventeenth century a similar event took place in England, also honoring the Virgin, which was called Mothering Sunday. The children attended mass and went home with gifts for their mothers. Also, since many people served wealthy masters, often away from their homes, the day was off but paid so they could go to their home countries to visit their families.

In the US, on the other hand, the holiday dates back to 1872, when Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, proposed that the date be dedicated to the honor of peace and began holding meetings each year in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. in celebration of Mother's Day.

This singular occurrence was accompanied by the initiative of a young woman named Anna Jarvis. Anna Reeves Jarvis was a community activist from West Virginia who, by 1858, had organized women to work to improve public health in Appalachian communities during the American Civil War. She also assisted in the care of the wounded on both sides of the conflict and later organized gatherings for former enemies to integrate and fraternize.

Anna, who lost her mother in 1905, began sending letters to politicians, lawyers and other influential people asking that Mother's Day be included on the second Sunday in May (which for several years coincided with the anniversary of her mother's death.)

By 1910, it was already celebrated in many states of the Union, and in 1912 he succeeded in creating the International Mother's Day Association to promote his initiative.

Finally, in 1914, the US Congress approved the date as Mother's Day and declared it a national holiday, which was approved by President Woodrow Wilson.

Later, other countries joined this initiative, and soon Anna could see that over 40 countries around the world celebrated Mother's Day on similar dates.

However, the festival, popularized by Anna Jarvis, began to be commercialized in such a way that the origins of the celebration were distorted. This prompted Anna to file a lawsuit in 1923 to have the date removed from the public holiday calendar. Her claims reached such a scale that she was even arrested for rioting at a meeting of mothers of struggling soldiers who were selling white carnations, the symbol Jarvis had raised to identify the date.

Anna stubbornly fights against the idea that she herself raised, losing all the support of those who initially accompanied her. In a report they made before her death, Anna mentioned her regret for promoting Mother's Day.

The dates of its celebration vary by country. Below we give you the dates on which they celebrate Mother's Day according to the country.

Most countries celebrate it in May, often on a Sunday. And the tradition is that people give presents and Mother’s day flowers to the women who have raised them. Usually this day is a celebration of the mom who gave birth to her children but sometimes the adoptive mom is the person who has taken care of the kids instead of their biological parents.

Germany, Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Curacao, Denmark, Ecuador, USA, Finland, Greece, Grenada, Netherlands, Honduras, Hong Congo, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Taiwan, Trinidad, Turkey, Uruguay (except where it is celebrated on the third Sunday in May) and Venezuela

Bahrain, Bahamas, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Malaysia Oman, Pakistan,Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar

Spain, Hungary, Portugal, and South Africa

Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia 

Argentina

France

Indonesia

Lebanon

Norway

Cucuta (Colombia), Sweden and the Dominican Republic

Thailand

Mother's Day is usually observed in the UK on the fourth Sunday of Lent. The 40-day period of Christian fasting before Easter is known as Lent. *

United Kingdom.

Bolivia

Panama

Paraguay

Nicaragua

The history of this holiday originates many years ago and it is important to be remembered and celebrated all over the world. Don’t forget to cherish these women in your life!