Celebrating Mums around the world

Mother’s Day is a special day to honour mums who selflessly work each day to make our lives comfortable. It is a day celebrated in several countries around the world though on different dates. In a large number of countries including the US and India, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in the month of May. The day respects the mothers all over the world who are devoted to their kids no matter what, and no matter how old.

 

Mother’s Day in the US: Mother’s Day is a national holiday here, celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm. It has been commercialized to a great extent and is considered as the next big day after Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Phone lines record a heavy traffic and card sales reaches its peak and restaurants are filled to their maximum capacity. Traditions for this day generally include things like breakfast in the bed, giving flowers, cards or gifts, and treating them to a meal.

 

Mother’s Day in Australia: Mother’s Day falls on the same day in Australia as it does in the US. There is a tradition of wearing carnation on Mother’s Day in Australia (as is in the US). A coloured carnation signifies that a person’s mother is living while a white carnation is used to honour a deceased mother. Besides their own mothers, children honour their grandmothers and other women who love and care for them as a mother does. As a mark of respect children pamper their mother on Mother’s Day by treating them with breakfast on bed and with gifts and cakes.

 

Mother’s Day in France: The French celebrate Mother’s Day on the last Sunday in the month of May. A family dinner is the norm, and traditionally the mother being honoured is presented with a cake that looks like a bouquet of flowers. Consider making your mother a flower bouquet cake on the last Sunday in May and celebrate Mother’s Day with the people of France.

 

Mother’s Day in Ireland: In Ireland, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in the Christian fasting month of Lent. The history of celebrating the day can be traced to the medieval practice where children from poor families were sent to work as domestic servants and apprentices to work with the rich. Once in the year in the middle of the Lent these children were given a day off to visit their ‘Mother Church’ and worship Virgin Mary. After visiting the Mother Church or Cathedral of their home town these children visited their mothers and presented them with flowers they picked along the way.

 

Mother’s Day in South Africa: In South Africa, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in the month of May. People of South Africa celebrate Mother’s Day in its true spirit by acknowledging the importance of mothers in their lives and thanking them profusely for all their love and care. Young children present their mothers with homemade gifts while the elder ones buy gifts for their mothers. In South Africa, Mother’s Day is taken as an opportunity to thank not just mothers but also grandmothers and women who are like mothers.

 

Mother’s Day in the UK: Mother’s Day in the UK takes place on the fourth Sunday in the month of Lent. Mother’s Day came to be celebrated in the UK in 17th century as Mothering Sunday, much before the custom began in the US. In fact, England was the first country in the world to dedicate a day for mothers as early as 1600s. They called this day for mothers as ‘Mothering Sunday’. The tradition of Mothering Sunday stopped with the advent of Industrial Revolution in England when the working conditions and life pattern changed.