Mother’s Day is celebrated in many countries, however, at different times. Unlike International Women’s Day on March 8, only mothers and pregnant women are honored on Mother’s Day, and not all representatives of the weaker sex. The International Mother’s Day Association was established on December 12, 1912 with the aim of spreading conscious celebration of this day. In Russia, Mother’s Day has been celebrated since 1998 on the last Sunday of November on the basis of a decree of the President of the Russian Federation, paying tribute to maternal labor and their selfless sacrifice for the benefit of children. Although it is impossible to argue with the fact that this holiday is a celebration of eternity: from generation to generation, for every person, mom is the most important person in life. Becoming a mother, a woman discovers the best qualities in herself: kindness, love and care.
Among the numerous holidays celebrated in our country, Mother’s Day occupies a special place. Maxim Gorky wrote: “Flowers do not grow without the sun, there is no happiness without love, there is no love without a woman, there is no poet or hero without a mother. All the pride of the world comes from mothers!”
In the most ancient societies, the whole life of the human collective was concentrated around a woman. The woman was not only the successor of the family: all habits, norms of behavior and traditions were transmitted through the woman. Perhaps there was even no idea of the connection of sexual intercourse with pregnancy and the birth of a child, respectively, in the minds of people of that time, a man did not play any role in procreation. Therefore, the cult of the Mother Goddess occupied an absolute, dominant position in religious beliefs. The Mother Goddess is the universal ancestor. Plants, animals, and people came out of her womb.
The tradition of celebrating Mother’s Day, according to some sources, originates in the female mysteries of Ancient Rome, designed to honor the Great Mother Goddess, the mother of all gods. The ancient Greeks paid homage to the mother of all gods – Gaia. The Romans dedicated three days in March (from 22 to 25) to another mother of the gods – eastern Cybele. For the Celts, Mother’s Day was the day of honoring the goddess Breeches.
In Slavic mythology, a special place is occupied by the goddess Makosh. After the spread of Christianity in Europe, holidays began to be held in honor of the Mother Church – a symbol of spiritual power that gives life and protection from danger. It is also known that in England of the XV century, the so–called Mother’s Sunday was celebrated – the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, dedicated to honoring mothers throughout the country. Gradually, this holiday acquired a different meaning – they began to honor not mothers, but “Mother Church”, so that the holiday became a church one.
Official celebrations celebrating the Mother go back to 1908. A young American woman Anna Jarvis from Philadelphia took the initiative to honor mothers in memory of her mother, who died prematurely. Anna wrote letters to state institutions, legislative bodies, prominent persons with a proposal to devote one day a year to honoring mothers. Her efforts were crowned with success – in 1910, the state of Virginia was the first to recognize “Mother’s Day” as an official holiday. Although, in fact, this is a celebration of eternity: from generation to generation, for each of us, mom is the most important person.
In the United States of America, this holiday is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. In popularity among Americans, “Mother’s Day” is in fifth place after “Valentine’s Day”, “Fathers’ Day”, “Easter” and “Christmas”. On this day, all sons, regardless of their relationship with their parents, should visit their mother, give her a symbolic gift, stay with her for a while.
In Australia, “Mother’s Day” is celebrated with pleasure. Australians use this day to express sincere gratitude and appreciation to their mothers. Adults give serious gifts, kids – flowers and postcards. As in the USA, in Australia, the tradition of wearing a carnation flower on clothes on this day has taken root. A colored carnation means that a person’s mother is alive and well, white flowers are pinned to clothes in memory of departed mothers. Whence it follows that the carnation symbolizes the reverence of the Mother.
The attitude to Mother’s Day in Russia is ambiguous. In Russia there is a church holiday honoring a mother woman. It is celebrated a week after the Red Hill. This celebration is called the Week of Myrrh-bearing Women in memory of those widows who brought peace to anoint the body of Jesus taken from the cross. It was they who first learned that the Son of the Lord had risen from the dead. September 21 – on the birthday of the Most Pure Theotokos, a woman is revered as a continuer of the family, as a mother. On this day, childless women pray to God for the bestowal of the happiness of motherhood. In Russia by the decree of B. N. Yeltsin dated 30.01.98 No. 120 established an annual Russian holiday – “Mother’s Day”. The holiday is celebrated on the last Sunday of November. And although this holiday is celebrated only for the eleventh year, but at all times mom has been and remains the most important and closest person for each of us. Russian mothers have always been distinguished by generosity of soul, devotion, self-sacrifice, love and great patience. And today they cherish the family hearth, teach children kindness, mutual understanding, morality. Only thanks to the mother does the child become a worthy member of society. The cult of the mother, expressed by the formula “Motherland”, is genetically consciously and unconsciously present in Russian people.
“Let us praise the Mother woman whose love knows no barriers, whose breast the whole world is nourished! Everything beautiful in a person is from the rays of the sun and from the mother’s milk – that’s what saturates us with the love of life“
M. Gorky
Author of the article: Varvara Kartushina
