Holiday

Mother’s Day is traditionally a beautiful Spring Sunday when we take the time to focus on Mom, taking her out for a nice brunch or dinner, giving her gifts and flowers, and letting her “take it easy” for the day. But in the over 40 foreign countries who also observe some sort of “Mother’s Day”, the traditions can be very different!

Argentina – While “Dia de la Madre” is observed in most of South America in May, it’s celebrated the second Sunday of October in this southern-hemisphere country, most likely so it coincides with the traditional springtime ‘motherhood’ festivities. Argentinian mothers are lavished with dinners, cards poems written in school by the children, and a day of their husbands cleaning, cooking and looking after the family.
Japan – “Haha no hi” was very popular by the 1930′s in Japan, but was banned during World War II, along with most every western custom. In about 1949 that the celebration started again, mostly to comfort those who had lost their sons in the War. Children entered drawings of their mothers into a contest. Today, Mother’s Day is held the second Sunday of May, with children giving their moms red carnations, scarves, handbags and handkerchiefs, and making traditional dishes their mothers taught them to cook.
Yugoslavia – Mother’s Day here is tied to a three-day series of holidays for the whole family. Children’s Day (Dechiyi Dan) is the first, three days before Christmas. The Sunday after this holiday is Mother’s Day (Materitse) and the Sunday following that is Father’s Day (Ochichi). While these sound like sweet holidays, on each day the “honoree” is bound until they provide something; the children must promise to be good, the mother must give the family treats and candy, and the father much promise more lavish gifts and clothing that are usually the family’s Christmas gifts.
France – With the birthrate at an alarmingly low rate in the late 1800s and early 1900s, France implemented La Fete de Meres on December 19, 1920. Medals were awarded to mothers of large families, with the coveted gold medal going to those with 8 or more children! Inspired by American soldiers in World War II and their immense outpouring of love – and letters! – for their Mother’s Day, the government established the National Day of Mothers on May 25, 1945. Today, traditional gifts include flower-shaped cakes, candies, perfumes, cards and flowers.

However you choose to honor your mother, let Boesen the Florist be part of your Mother’s Day celebrations!

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Your Mother: The woman who soothed your nightmares, washed your smelly socks, baked you a cake for your birthday, and eased you through your traumatic teenage years. Buying her flowers and taking her out for brunch never seems sufficient – and yet, she’s perfectly tickled and happy with that show of affection!

Where did Mother’s Day start? Originally, “Mother’s Day” wasn’t focused on human mothers, but rather was a celebration of goddesses. The earliest historical record of worshiping a “mother” deity is the Egyptian goddess Isis, who was considered the mother of all pharaohs.

Europe adopted a different kind of observation in later years. The fourth Sunday of Lent honored “Mother Church”, or the church in which one was baptized. By a clerical decree in the 1600s, England included mothers in the observance, calling it “Mothering Day.” Household servants and track workers got to go home to visit their families, giving all a one-day reprieve from Lenten fasting, as it was traditional to have a family feast with Mom as the guest of honor. She was showered with cakes and flowers with all of her children around her.

The first traditional American Mother’s Day was celebrated May 10, 1908, in Grafton, West Virginia. Anna M. Jarvis was carrying on the work of her mother, who used Mother’s Day as a way to reunite families and neighbors who had been estranged by the Civil War. Carnations were handed out to all the mothers attending the 1908 celebration, and even today white carnations are used to honor deceased mothers, while pink or red ones pay tribute to those still living.

No matter what type of flower you give or how you honor YOUR mother this Mother’s Day, Boesen the Florist has a design that will truly make Mom feel your love and appreciation!

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Mother’s Day Around the World!

A History of Mother’s Day