Mother’s Day was celebrated last Sunday, and I bet you do not know how it all started.

According to a Greek legend, the earliest Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced to the celebrations of ancient Greece, in honour of Rhea, the Mother of the gods.

During the 1600s, England also celebrated a day called “Mothering Sunday”. Celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the 40-day period leading up to Easter, “Mothering Sunday” honoured the mothers of England.

In the United States, Mother’s Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe organised Mother’s Day meetings in Boston, USA every year.

In 1907, Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother’s Day. She persuaded her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia, to celebrate Mother’s Day on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, the second Sunday of May. By the following year, Mother’s Day celebration began in Philadelphia.

Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessmen and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother’s Day. Their campaign was successful as by 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state.

President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement, proclaiming Mother’s Day, the second Sunday of May every year as a national holiday that was to be observed.

Owing to globalisation, Mother’s Day has now become a worldwide celebration. Many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother’s Day at different times throughout the year. However, countries such as Greece, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Australia, Belgium and Ghana celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May.

Mother’s Day, in contemporary times, is a holiday for celebrating motherhood and thanking mothers. Mothers often receive gifts on this day. This is the time you can show mummy how much you appreciate every little thing she does for you.

You can buy her a gift if you can afford one; though the day is past it is not gone. A gift doesn’t have to be expensive, it is the affection behind it that matters. Even if you don’t have money, just saying “thank you mummy for all the love you’ve shown me”, and hugging her, should be enough demonstration of your love for her.

Moreover, you can help mummy in the house with chores such as cleaning, cooking the family’s meal, baby-sitting your younger sibling or going to the market to get some groceries for her.

Whichever way you want to celebrate Mother’s Day, make sure ultimately mummy gets to know how much you love her.

  Earliest fete > The earliest Mother’s Day celebrations are traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honour of Rhea, wife of Cronus and the Mother of the Gods and Goddesses.

In Rome the most significant Mother’s Day-like festival was dedicated to the worship of Cybele, another mother goddess. Ceremonies in her honour began some 250 years before Christ was born.

In Englad > During the 1600’s, England celebrated a day called “Mothering Sunday”, celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent, also called Mid-Lent Sunday. “Mothering Sunday” honoured the mothers of England. As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honour the “Mother Church”, the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration .

People began honouring their mothers as well as the church. During this time many of the England’s poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers.

On Mothering Sunday, the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

The official side to it > The first Mother’s Day proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia in 1910. Oklahoma celebrated Mother’s Day that year as well. By 1911 every state had its own observances. By then other areas celebrating Mother’s Day included Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South America and Africa.

The Mother’s Day International Association was incorporated on December 12, 1912, with the purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mother’s Day.

While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother’s Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium which also celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May. Mother’s Day is celebrated on May 10  in Bahrain, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and United Arab Emirates.

Mother’s Day, like the job of “mothering,” is varied and diverse. Perhaps that’s only appropriate for a day honouring the multiple ways women find to nurture their families,  their communities, their countries, and the world at large.

Mother’s Day: zany facts! > Hindu scripture credits the Great Mother, Kali Ma, with the invention of writing through alphabets, pictographs and beautiful sacred images. In the Bible, Eve is credited with being the “Mother of All the Living.” Some tribes of people, like the Assam in Africa, don’t call themselves families. They call themselves “maharis”, or “motherhoods.”

Rosa Parks was the mother of bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama that launched the Civil Rights Movement. Chinese family names are often formed, begin, with a sign that means “mother”. It’s a nice way of honoring their moms long past.

The ancient Greeks celebrated Mother’s Day in spring, like we do. They used to honor Rhea, “mother of the gods” with honey-cakes and fine drinks and flowers at dawn. Sounds like the beginnings of the Mother’s Day tradition of breakfast in bed!

Mother Shipton was a Prophetess in Britain 500 years ago. She could see the future, and predicted that another Queen Elizabeth would sit on the throne of England.  Japan’s Imperial family trace their descent from Omikami Amaterasu, the Mother of the World.

Julia Ward Howe wrote the Battle Hymm of the Republic and was a staunch fighter for women’s rights. She staged an unusual protest for peace in Boston, by celebrating a special day for mothers. Julia wanted to call attention to the need for peace by pointing out mothers who were left alone in the world without their sons and husbands after the bloody Franco-Prussian War.

The Greek word “meter” and the Sanskrit word “mantra” mean both mother and measurement. Mother Goose is one of the most popular of all children’s entertainers. Her books and stories have been loved for many generations. Native American Indian women have long been honored with the name, “Life of the Nation” for their gift of motherhood to the tribes. Ancient Egyptians believed that “Bast” was the mother of all cats on Earth, and that cats were sacred animals.

Buddha honoured mothers when he said, “As a mother, even at the risk of her own life, loves and protects her child, so let a man cultivate love without measure toward the whole world.”

Mother’s Day is now celebrated in many countries around the world. Australia, Mexico, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Russia, China, Thailand, all have special celebrations to honor Mothers, but some of them not in the same way or on the same day as the United States.

Today is Mother’s Day. That’s the easy part. Now just what does that mean? For most, it’s about sending a nice card laced with moving words. For some, a high-priced dinner fits the bill. And still for others, a simple “Happy Mother’s Day” will suffice.

We all know it’s really more than all of that.

Mother’s Day reminds us of the need to say and do nice things for our mothers. But it also presents us an opportunity to reflect on the very essence of motherhood, and how mothers are an integral part of the family fabric in every country. Mothers often hold it all together.

The aunt who is there to prepare the meals on holidays. The sister who lends the listening ear when one is needed. The cousin who puts others before she puts herself. The grandmother on her second leg of raising children when the other mother is either working or is not around.

The roles of mothers have changed over the years. As society has put added stresses on everyone, it is often women who find themselves juggling a career with an unending capacity to care for others. That’s when the role of mothers comes into an even sharper focus.

As people around the world today either thank their mothers or remember what it was like when their mothers were around, we should never lose sight that our collective conscience is tied to the person we call Mom.

Happy Mother’s Day!

We shouldn’t need a special day set aside to thank our mothers for all the things they do. It’s something we should do routinely and without prodding.

But while some might heed an “every day is Mother’s Day” theme, many of us need an extra reminder, just like we often needed a reminder from Mom to do our homework, wake up for school, pick up our clothes and send a thank you note to Aunt Sally for the birthday gift she sent.

Considering how often mothers put their children ahead of themselves throughout the year, having one special Mother’s Day isn’t too much to ask.

But it wasn’t until 1914 that the United States established the second Sunday in May as a national holiday to celebrate motherhood. Now it is among the busier days of the year for dining out or making phone calls. Remember that if you have to wait a long time for a table or find “all circuits are busy” when pick up the phone.

The candy and flowers are welcome. The breakfast in bed is nice, even if Mom has to put in extra work cleaning the mess made in the kitchen by well-intentioned children.

Children are not the only ones who should be thanking their mothers. We should thank mothers for the roles they play in developing the next generation of citizens. Those roles often require a juggling act as mothers try to meet the needs or demands of children, other family members and, in some cases, employers.

Mothers have been multi-tasking since long before the term was invented. Mothers provide children with direction and serve as their first role models. They reinforce the lessons of society and school, teaching children how to fit in yet also be independent thinkers.

In praising mothers on this special day, we do not want to dismiss the similar contributions of fathers. In some households, as a result of death, divorce or other circumstances, dads are performing dual roles as fathers and mothers. In other households, grandparents have taken over parenting duties.

To all who are fulfilling the traditional role of mothers, even those doing so in not-so-traditional ways, we wish you a happy Mother’s Day.

  Even if you did not made it to buy flowers from your florist or online, there’s always a rush solution. Pick up some flowers from your garden and present them with much love to your Mother.

Happy Mather’s Day!

Whether it’s by gifting her favourite perfume, the dress she has been eyeing for a long time, making her indulge in some sinful chocolates, pampering her in a spa or by simply, but most importantly, spending some time with her, Mother’s Day is all about celebrating the most special woman in your life.

Celebrated in most countries on the second Sunday of May and with equal zeal and enthusiasm across the world, Mother’s Day is looked forward to by all.

There’s no one day that you can celebrate the spirit of motherhood and tell your mom that she is special, but owing to the fast lane life that we are leading, we all know how often we do that actually! So it is a good thing that there is one day dedicated to our mothers completely. As far as I am concerned, I will spend the whole day with my mom, cook her favourite meal and take her to a movie later, just the two of us.

It was observed for the first time May 10, 1908, in a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the memory of Anna Reese Jarvis, mother of Anna Jarvis. Four years later, the Mother’s Day International Association was set up to spread the concept and practice of observing Mother’s Day.

Besides celebrating the day, those like human rights activists said that we should celebrate the institution of motherhood not just on this day, but everyday.

One thing was all have in common is that we all have a mother, so take a moment out of your busy Sunday and call your mom, maybe impress her with someadditional knowledge about the day.

This video is the undisputed most popular Mothers Day video on the internet with over 3.2 Million views from the comedy duo Barats and Bereta. If you are a mother with two sons, you might be witnessing a comedic gem.

Via > AOL Newsbloggers