Unique Mothers Day Gift Ideas Always the Second Sunday in May well at least it is in the USA and Unique Mom Traditions!

Who knew that Mothers’ Day has roots in the industrial revolution? I never realized this until I began this research project. However, mother’s day can be found even further back.

According to Greece mythology, Rhea the wife of Kronos (Father Time) was celebrated as the figure of Mothers and Motherhood. It is said that Kronos would eat their offspring as soon as they were born, and Rhea protected one child name Zeus from the deadly jaws of Kronos by deceiving him. She gave him a stone instead of their son therefore he ate the stone, and Zeus was spared!

Then soon with the advent of the industrial revolution, this prompted Europeans to set aside one day each year for workers to “go home” for some “mothering” and to provide a special cake to their mother, which become known as Mothering Day.

Mothering Day was also when Europeans would be required to attend their “Mother Church”, and I am sure this is where Pot-Luck dinners came from too!

Celebrating Mothers of our Country as Woodrow Wilson proclaimed so long ago, one must never forget Julia Ward Howe. Yes, that is correct she is also the author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. And as she proclaimed many years ago, here is her Proclamation that I know every mother’s heart will feel. A mother’s heart lamenting over war, hers was in response to Franco-Prussian War that was between France and Germany 1870-1871.

Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1872

Arise, then, women of this day!

Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies.

Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It say, “Disarm, Disarm!”

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice! Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possessions.

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as the means whereby the great human family can live in peace,

And each bearing after her own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

(from Julia Ward Howe, REMINISCENCES, 1819-1899,(Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1899); pp 327-329)

Anna Jarvis a native of West Virginia, started her own campaign have Mother’s Day of peace, however, it didn’t turn out quite how she anticipated.

What started as a church event in her church in West Virginia, to celebrate the second anniversary of her mother’s death, soon spiraled into something that Ana Jarvis never intended.

Once Woodrow Wilson declared in 1914 that the 2^nd Sunday in May was to be known as National Mother’s Day it became instantly commercialized, much to the horror of Miss Jarvis.

By 1923 she was fighting to have Mother’s Day removed from its day of recognition, however as you know, she wasn’t successful in re-establishing it as a day of Peace as her predecessor had.

Interestingly enough, for those of us old enough to remember the Vietnam War and the poster of the sunflower with the words “War is not healthy for children and other living things”, which was revealed at the 1969 Mother’s Day event in Los Angeles another Mother of our Country Barbara Avedon founded “Another Mother for Peace” in 1967.

In 1967 Barbara and her group of 15 friends had sold 200,000 Mother’s Day cards that were delivered to their Congressmen and the card read; “For a Mother’s Day gift this year I don’t want candy or flowers. I want an end to killing. We who have given life must be dedicated to preserving it. Please, talk peace!”

Wow, what a message for us today. With men killing men in our streets, and our fathers, sons, and daughter fighting in foreign lands, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing to say again with these Mother’s that have gone before us…

We want an end to killing; we who have given life ARE dedicated to preserving it and are standing on the shoulders of our many Other Mother’s willing to Call for Peace before us - Please to Stop the killing of our children!

Typically, celebrations for Mom are celebrations of springtime, birth and renewal. Whether you espouse to Mother Earth goddess, the mother of us all; Jerusalem, or to the virgin Mary of Christianity or Catholicism, the traditions are similar.

The goddess Rhea is celebrated in the spring, during springtime festivals celebrating “Mother Earth” as she is known by. These festivals were generally 3 days in length.

In Ethiopia for example, their Mother’s Day celebrations comes at the end of the fall rainy season and continues for 3 full days. It is interesting to note that in Ethiopia, the daughters bring the spices, vegetables and herbs, while her sons bring the meat. See I told you earlier that I had a feeling that this was where I thought pot-luck dinner came from!

In France, Mother’s Day is celebrated in late May or early June. And interesting Note: Napoleon actually named Mother’s Day an official holiday, however, it just never caught on until the 1950’s. Gifts are given on this holiday; however the focus is more on reading poetry to their mothers.

In Chinese culture, the drinking of tea is prepared and drank for several different special occasions. These occasions seem to perfectly aline with honoring our mothers on Mother’s Day.

For Special Family gatherings for after the sons and daughters have left home to begin their own families. In Chinese culture, every Sunday Evenings the tea houses are filled with families gathering together to drink tea, before returning to their own homes and daily activities.

In this culture, Tea is the mainstay of celebrations. They view tea as a sign of respect when the children serve the parents or even if an employee serves tea to their employer.

Tea is also for apologizing to others. For example, when a child in China offers their parents a cup of tea, it is also a sign of submission to the parental role, and a sign of regret that they hadn’t respected their position or rules.

And let us not forget Japan. In Japan, they celebrate Mother’s Day on the 2^nd Sunday of May as we do in the United States. However, I wasn’t at all thrilled to hear that the most common meal for Mother’s Day is sushi and egg. But once you get past the sushi and egg meal, Mother’s aren’t allowed to do anything for the entire day. It is a day where the children take care of Mom!

When we share with each other our own cultural differences around one holiday, let it be Mother's Day.

Here is another link if you would like more mother's day gift idea.

If Mothers of the World would unite think of what a much better place this might be.