Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is the time to celebrate motherhood and to give honor and appreciation to mothers and mother figures. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world.

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood goes back to the ancient times as Romans and Greeks celebrated it by holding festivities in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.”

In the Philippines, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May, when children and fathers both spend the whole day pampering mothers and showers them with presents, as a sign of gratitude and appreciation for all the things she had done for her children.

Going back to history, Filipinos traditionally celebrated Mother’s Day on the first Monday of December since the 1920s. It was during the term of then president Cory Aquino when it was amended through a Proclamation stating Mother’s Day should be celebrated on the first Sunday of May.

Mothers in the Philippines are called by different names such as Ina, Nanay, Mama and Mommy. Mothers are often called “ilaw ng tahanan,” meaning the light who brings warmth and comfort to her family by taking good care of them, putting her family first before herself, and protecting them the best she can as an ultimate sacrifice a mother could give to her child.  Filipinos by nature are loving, especially to their mothers. Closed knit family that during this special day, they also include grandmothers, aunts, cousins and other women in the family who are also mothers.

Children often give flowers to their mothers and pink roses are one of the popular ones. Pink roses are given to convey gentle emotions such as admiration, joy and gratitude. Light pink rose blooms are indicative of sweetness and innocence. Pink roses also connote elegance and grace that suits a mother.

In Japan, Mother’s Day, also called “Haha-no-hi,” is a tradition that started during the Showa Period, when Empress Kojun’s birthday was celebrated on March 6. However, many historians and researchers claimed it was introduced by the Christian missionaries during 1913 and established by Imperial Women’s Union in 1931, thus spread all over the country around 1949.

Carnation flowers are considered the most popular gift in Japan during Mother’s Day. It symbolizes good luck in most of the places and so they are very widely used for celebrations around the world. Carnations are considered as a symbol of mothers because of their sweetness, purity and endurance.

You will also find children making handcrafted gifts or even handwritten cards just to show love for their mothers or sometimes in the form of food. We oftentimes see our mothers starting their day by cooking a hearty breakfast for us to start our day rolling, on this day, some kids with the help of their fathers, make her the queen of the day by preparing different delicacies that will make her happy.

However you want it to happen, let’s make our mothers happy on their special day.