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Mother’s day is officially Sunday, May 11, 2008. We celebrated it yesterday here in the Philippines. But the celebrations are not yet over since in the United States and in some parts of the globe; they are still celebrating mother’s day. (Because of the time difference) However there are some countries that celebrate mother’s day on a different date. That’s because of the concept of “mother’s day” has several origins.

According to Wikipedia, it is said that mother’s day originated during the ancient times of the Greeks and the Romans. The Greeks held a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods sometime from March 15 to 18.

The ancient Romans are said to have some sort of mother’s day celebration called “Matronalia” dedicated to Juno. It is this day that mothers were usually given gifts.
The origin of mother’s day in modern times is said to have been started by Anna Jarvis. Anna Jarvis is the daughter of Ann Jarvis who in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers’ Work Days. Anna Jarvis continued her mother’s crusade and further expanded it to become a memorial work day for women.

St. Andrew’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia is where the idea of honoring mothers started. In 1907, Anna Jarvis passed out 500 white carnations for each mother in the congregation. Today this building is now the International Mother’s Day Shrine which is considered as a National Historic Landmark.

On May 10 1908 the first “declared” mother’s day celebration was celebrated in the church where Anna’s mother, Ann Jarvis taught Sunday school. Anna chose Sunday to be Mother’s Day because she wanted Mother’s day to be treated as a “sacred day.” Commercialism in the celebration of Mothers Day infuriated Anna so much that she made several criticisms against exploiting the celebration during her lifetime.

In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the first national Mother’s Day.

Today other countries celebrate mother’s day on several months depending on what is the origin of their mother’s day. However for those countries whose mother’s day origin started with Anna Jarvis, Mother’s day is officially on the second Sunday of May.

These are the countries that celebrate Mother’s day on the second Sunday of May.

Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, People’s Republic of, China, Republic of (Taiwan), Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia*, Malta, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, South Africa, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

So to all mothers out there especially to my wife, my mother, grandmother and mother in-law, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY !

Watch this yotube clip as my mother’s day tribute to all of you.

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