Mother's Day Celebrations

Mothering Sunday
As with most days of celebration, religion also now plays a part in celebrating Mother's Day with the Catholic Church using the day to venerate the Virgin Mary, changing the name to Mothering Sunday. In Hinduism, mothers are honoured for a fortnight beginning with the new moon in April/May, and has been an important part of their religious culture for a few hundred years before Western civilisations adopted it.

Before the advent of greetings cards, families would write their mothers a personal letter expressing their gratitude and love, but now the greetings card industry has taken off, most people choose an appropriate card in which to write a message inside. Florists and restaurants also report a huge peak in sales on Mother's Day although some people complain about prices being hiked up to take advantage of the holiday, just as they are for Valentine's Day.

Why Celebrate Mother's Day
Behind every famous and influential person there is a driving force and in many cases this driving force is the unfailing love and support of their mothers. Just as Anna Jarvis' mother inspired her daughter to create a day of homage for mothers around the world, so do many other mothers inspire and encourage their offspring to aim high. Just look at Martin Luther King Jr's mother, whom he spoke so highly of; "[she] was behind the scenes setting forth those motherly cares". And again in the case of Barack Obama, his mother was his driving force, working hard to improve conditions for women in rural communities and referred to by Obama as; "the dominant figure in my formative years..."

Certainly in the early days it was left to the women to look after and raise the children whilst the fathers went to work. Now in today's society not only do they raise their children but hold down a job too and there are many inspirational mothers out there in modern society such as single mum and Dragon's Den winner Kirsty Henshaw who juggled part-time jobs with raising her young son and striving to develop a range of desserts for children who were dairy intolerant, like her son.

These stories serve to remind us of just how much our mothers have sacrificed for us and how much we take for granted. Who is it we turn to when things go wrong? Who always shows us support and fights our corner even when we are in the wrong?

Celebrate Mother's Day
It is for these reasons that we celebrate Mother's Day. Sure we should honour our mothers every day of the year, but the reality is that we don't. Therefore the sentiment that Anna Jarvis had, to take just one day out to highlight the work of mothers around the world as well as in your own family, stands true today.