First : Happy Mothers Day to all to whom it may apply.
In US, the second Sunday in May is Mothers Day. Do other countries have anything similar?
Now, when I was VERY young, I mean before WWII, there was a tradition that men wear a carnation to honor their mothers on Mothers Day : a white carnation if mother was dead, a pink carnation if mother was alive. I don't remember its being reinstituted after WWII.
a white carnation if mother was dead, a pink carnation if mother was alive.
that's still in practice around here in places, but it's a bit different: i spent last mother's day at Lawrence Welk Village (long story, don't ask) and they gave out carnations to each of the moms present, according to the system you've described. the men didn't get them at all.
oh, and since i'll be gone this weekend, happy mothers day in advance to the moms of AWAD. =)
oh, and tsuwm, i'll probably be doing a bit of fishing this weekend as well =)
In the UK Mothering Sunday or Mothers' Day is the fourth Sunday in Lent, i.e., three weeks before Easter. Hari Ibu in Indonesia is at the beginning of December (I forget the exact date) but I don't think anybody does anything much on it.
Do other parts of the English-speaking world follow the US or UK pattern or have their own?
a white carnation if mother was dead, a pink carnation if mother was alive.
that's still in practice around here in places, but it's a bit different: they gave out carnations to each of the moms present, according to the system you've described.
And just how many white carnations did they order?
As previously mentioned, Mothers day is earlier here in UK, in fact it is 3 months before (or 9 months after) Fathers Day . It was fun getting Mothers Day and Fathers Day cards on different days when our son was working in Oz.
I don't know about anyone else, but I could never take Mother's Day seriously. Neither did my mother unless I forgot or omitted to buy her a prezzie.
Since I believed from an early age that Mothers' Day was a have on the part of the retailers (Hallmark Day, as Max suggests), I used to "compensate", giving my mother the strangest or oddest things I could find. And they always had to be ultimately useless. I can only remember a few of them, but I (and my mum) always thought the best one was the time I forgot Mothers' Day until THE day, and couldn't get the appropriate card because Hallmark had successfully sold out.
So I got her a Deepest Sympathy card instead. She dined out on it for months afterwards.
We always used to vow to "be good all day" on Mothers' Day. I doubt if it worked. There were too many things for my brother and I to fight about. But we never got her presents. My father occasionally got her flowers, but only very occasionally!
Now that I'm a long way away from my mom, I like sending her cards. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" and all that. (Alternatively "Absence makes the heart grow fungus" - the Barenaked Ladies.)
My mother had many foreign visitors to stay, some with little English. One pair gave her a present to thank her for the hospitality as they left complete with an "In loving memory" card.
Carnations My father kept up that tradition through the '50s, except that our carnations were red, not pink.
I believe there is a British tradition called "Mothering Sunday,", which I will leave to a Brit to expound on. But it seems to have spread to the colonies. Our church has a large number of members who are Nigerian, of the Igbo tribe, and they celebrate Mothering Sunday in late May, so on that Sunday, the usual procession is headed by the Igbo women, all dressed in their finest ethnic costumes, which are very colorful indeed, who come down the aisle singing and dancing to a native song. The service is followed by a festival meal, mostly African, in the undercroft, to which the entire congregation is invited, and nearly everyone attends, as the food is marvelous, and a great time is had by all, black, white, Hispanic and Asian (we have a very diverse congregation).
The service is followed by a festival meal, mostly African, in the undercroft, to which the entire congregation is invited, and nearly everyone attends, as the food is marvelous, and a great time is had by all, black, white, Hispanic and Asian (we have a very diverse congregation.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` How very fortunate you are. Makes me want to hop on a plane and join you! What is that exact date again? wow
wow> I don't remember its being reinstituted after WWII.
I can remember being 10 year's old in the Philippines and wearing a pink flower on Mother's Day to indicate that my Mother is still alive. That is all we did on Mother's Day. We did not send cards nor gifts. It was so uncommercialized then. Now it is just like here, with cards and gifts.
A similar custom (wearing a red or white flower on Mother's Day) has prevailed in this particular part of the South (TN, MS, AR + perhaps elsewhere in the South?) on both Mother's Day and Father's Day (red for live parent, white for deceased parent) except that we use roses rather than carnations. Roses are plentiful (NEVER bought) and are cut from one's own yard or that of a friendly neighbor. The practice was strictly (Religiously at Church!) observed in the '40s, '50s and into the '60s, began to fade in '70s and '80s and, in the '90s and '00s is rare, but is still considered a thoughtful, sentimental touch. As for "greeting cards", all of which have become as "pricey" as the incidental gifts themselves, the general practice, (cutting across all income brackets) is 1. to skip card (and "gift-wrap") altogether, or, 2.to create one's own card via computer or otherwise, or, 3. if a commercial card is irresistibly clever, to purchase it, but affix personal message on sticky notes to permit the card to be re-circulated. Such re-circulated cards are sometimes deemed to acquire a certain dog-eared panache in the process and, further, one hopes, may aid environmentalists in their efforts to preserve rain- forests. (Now where is that tongue-in-cheek emoticon?)
I have always been rather irritated by the (widely held)view that Mothering Sunday is a put-up job by the greetings card business.
My father talks about "Mothering Sunday" as mid-lent Sunday (one of the reasons why the date moves around) as the day that they would have had Simnel cake.
Although the flower business does very well out of Mothers Day, churches and schools tend to stick to handing out home-grown daffodils, brought in by the parishoners, as they are plentiful at that time of year. This year, my daughter's school class took daffodils from the garden into the local hospital.
The BBC Website gives a good description of the origins: History of Mothering Sunday Most Sundays in the year churchgoers in England worship at their nearest parish or "daughter church".
Centuries ago it was considered important for people to return to their home or "mother" church once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit their "mother" church, or the main church or Cathedral of the area.
Inevitably the return to the "mother" church became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away returned home. (It was quite common in those days for children to leave home for work once they were ten years old.)
And most historians think that it was the return to the "Mother" church which led to the tradition of children, particularly those working as domestic servants, or as apprentices, being given the day off to visit their mother and family.
As they walked along the country lanes, children would pick wild flowers or violets to take to church or give to their mother as a small gift.
A Foodie Festival Mothering Sunday was also known as Refreshment Sunday because the fasting rules for Lent were relaxed that day.
Originally both Old and New testament lessons on mid-lent Sunday made a point of food.
Simnel Cake The food item specially associated with Mothering Sunday is the Simnel Cake.
A Simnel cake is a fruit cake with two layers of almond paste, one on top and one in the middle.
The cake is made with 11 balls of marzipan icing on top representing the 11 disciples. (Judas is not included). Traditionally, sugar violets would also be added.
INTEREST STARTS IN THE UNITED STATES Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948) is credited with originating our Mother's Day holiday. She never married and was extremely attached to her mother, Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis. Mrs. Jarvis was a minister's daughter who for 20 years taught Sunday School in the Andrews Methodist Church of Grafton, West Virginia. Miss Jarvis graduated from the Female Seminary in Wheeling, West Virginia, and taught in Grafton before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the rest of her family.
Anna Reese Jarvis died in Philadelphia in May of 1905. Still unmarried and left alone with her blind sister Elsinore, Anna missed her mother greatly. Two years after her mother's death (1907) Anna Jarvis and her friends began a letter-writing campaign to gain the support of influential ministers, businessmen and congressmen in declaring a national Mother's Day holiday. She felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother enough while the mother was still alive. She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.
THE FIRST MOTHER'S DAY The first Mother's Day observance was a church service honoring Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis, held at Anna Jarvis's request in Grafton, West Virginia, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1908.
Carnations, her mother's favorite flowers, were supplied at that first service by Miss Jarvis. White carnations were chosen because they represented the sweetness, purity and endurance of mother love. Red carnations, in time, became the symbol of a living mother. White ones now signify that one's mother has died.
OTHER MOTHER'S DAY OBSERVANCES The first Mother's Day proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia in 1910. Oklahoma celebrated Mother's Day that year as well. By 1911 every state had its own observances. By then other areas celebrating Mother's Day included Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South America and Africa. The Mother's Day International Association was incorporated on December 12, 1912, with the purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mother's Day.
OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION The House of Representatives in May, 1913, unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the President, his Cabinet, members of Congress, and all officials of the federal government to wear a white carnation on Mother's Day. Congress passed another Joint Resolution May 8, 1914, designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. The U.S. flag is to be displayed on government buildings and at people's homes "as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." President Woodrow Wilson issued the first proclamation making Mother's Day an official national holiday.
I have always been rather irritated by the (widely held)view that Mothering Sunday is a put-up job by the greetings card business.
Welcome back, jo - too long no see. I certainly did not intend to give irritation, as I had never even heard of Mothering Sunday. The festival you describe is, I suspect, almost unknown outside the relatively small community of the devout, and for most Zildians, the only such day known is Mother's Day, which is shamelessly crass and commercial - a commercial knock-off of the pious original, perhaps.
Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948) is credited with originating our Mother's Day holiday. She never married and was extremely attached to her mother, Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis.
Ah, this must have been the first recorded case of siamese mother and daughter!
Do other countries have anything similar? In Spain Mothers day was last Sunday because we celebrate it the first Sunday of may. Our custom this day is buying a present to our mother. Most veteran people says that this is not a traditional celebration here and it was imported on the late sixties by some shopping centers chains in order to increase their sales.
I don't know that the date of the Igbo Mothering Day is the same as the UK day, or for that matter if it's a fixed day. I rather think that when celebrated in church it may have to accomodate the fixed liturgical kalendar.
Mothering Day, or Mid-Lent Sunday, is also known as Laetare and, as noted is a slight relaxation of the Lenten rules. (By the way, no relaxation of Lenten austerity is necessary on a Sunday, since Sundays are always holidays, and not part of Lent. Lent is 40 days in length, but if you count from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, you don't come to 40 if you include the Sundays. Every Sunday is a "little Easter.") Laetare has a counterpart in the Advent season, Gaudete, which is the 3rd Sunday in Advent.
In Catholic and Anglo-Catholic churches, the correct liturgical color for Gaudete and Laetare is rose, a relaxation of the violet which is used for the rest of Advent and Lent, in the old Roman use. Rose vestments and their matching altar frontals, pulpit falls and lectern markers are rarely seen, since liturgical vestments are costly and few churches will spend the money for a set used only twice a year unless some benefactor donates them.
I don't know where Laetare gets its name, but probably similarly to Gaudete, which takes its name from the proper Epistle for that Sunday, which begins, in the Latin Sarum Use, "Gaudete semper in Domino", "Rejoice in the Lord always".
>Lent is 40 days in length, but if you count from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, you don't come to 40 if you include the Sundays. Every Sunday is a "little Easter.
Yes, interesting that point. My chocoholic daughter (then aged about seven) realised that the school's view of Lent was a little off the mark. She knew that Lent was 40 days and started to mark the number of days that she had decided to give up sweets on the calendar. It didn't take her long to realise that she was being fooled into a longer period of time than strictly necessary. It took a good trawl round relatives and friends before we found a Catholic priest who could confirm that you had to skip the Sundays. Perhaps our schools thought it was too complicated to explain that Sundays were a day off? I suspect a plot. We were never very good at Lent in my family, too many birthdays (including mine) fell in Lent and we regarded them as a "holiday" too.
My parents were strict observers of the old Friday fast day. Ont he way home from work, my mother would buy a joint of meat to eat cold over the weekend. She used to cook it on the Friday night, over the course of the evening the smell of cooking would fill the house ... just in time for a midnight feat as the clock struck twelve. She often had to go shopping again the next day. Once they were on an aeroplane (rare in those days before package holidays took off) on a Friday. They refused all food (most of us look for an excuse to refuse airline food, anyway) but then looked up and saw the Catholic priest in the next row tucking in. He smiled and pointed out that there was a "dispensation for travellers".
Isn't there some river-dwelling South American rodent about the size of a large dog that was classified by Catholic missionaries as a fish so they could eat it on fast days? Called a capybara or something. In a rush, so I can't LIU.
Hi Bing, I did LIU - here is a site which appears to have the answer. We'd better not post any recipes, otherwise the wrath of AnnaStrophic could be incurred!
The lowdown: We have read that capybaras may be eaten by Catholics during Lent in parts of South America, because they are aquatic. We've been unable to confirm this to our satisfaction, but it's an interesting story. They are definitely eaten by humans and other large predators in any case. Fortunately, we have no pictures of this activity.
UPDATE: According to Emilio Herrera, a biologist and capybara expert at Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas Venezuela: "It is true that capybaras are eaten during Lent, but only in Venezuela, and even there not everywhere. However, its dried and salted meat is highly appreciated and is a traditional lenten dish. The annual capybara harvest is legal and regulated by government. The well-designed management plan (based on a study by Juhani Ojasti published in 1973) has been in operation for many years and is very successful, contributing income to ranchers, meat for people, and not damaging their populations."
I think the issue here is that good Catholics are lateral thinkers. In a society where there are no longer any rules, all the inventiveness which was brought into play to find a way round these relatively trivial regulations has been lost. All we are left with is tax lawyers, trying to find a loophole in the latest legal obstacle to making millions turn into billions.
It was nice living in Massachusetts in the days of strict observances. The Archbishop of Boston always granted a "day off" from the rules on St. Patrick's Day! Children (to age 12), pregnant women, and those over 60 were not expected or required to observe the Lenten fast.
On Good Friday there was "The Great Silence" from noon to 3 p.m., purportedly the three hours Christ hung on the cross. And food was very limited : maximum of four ounces of meat, no sweets, coffee, or tea.
The military was governed by the Cardinal Archbishop of New York as he was the official top Chaplain for the military (RCs that is) and the military was exempt from all Lenten rule. Neat-o! The chaplains always advised the armed Forces to "use the exemption" or lose it!"
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site.
Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to
hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.
.
. One I still love is the (original so © my son) Birthday card my son made for my wife, on the lines of the "Mots; D'Heure; Gousse; Rames" false french parodies. The first line is:
