Mothers are guardian angels who have been incarnated on this planet to protect their children with selfless love. No one except a mother is capable of such unwavering care and affection. Mother’s Day is indeed a special day that marks the combined celebration of motherhood and womanhood.
Mythological Women and Goddesses as Mothers
Mothers are known for their self-sacrificing love since the beginning of time. Stories of a mother’s undying concern go back to the mythological times. In ‘The Story of Proserpine’ the goddess of crops and harvest, Ceres, wails relentlessly for her captive daughter Proserpine. Ceres scours heaven and earth for her lost child until Pluto, the Greek God of Underworld, allows Proserpine to return to her mother and live with her six months every year. Such is a mother’s anxiety for a daughter’s safety. It’s a love that can move mountains and perform extraordinary feats.
In Hindu mythology Goddess Durga as emblem of motherhood saves the human beings from the Asura. She fights bravely and defeats the undefeatable Asura to protect her children on the earth. She manifests herself as Goddess Parvati and nurtures her own sons namely Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya. She is the Mother Goddess whom people look up to in the tough times of their lives. She is the quintessential mother figure the devotees adore.
Date of Celebration
Mother’s Day is popularly observed every year on the second Sunday in the month of May. Most countries including the USA glorify motherhood and maternity on this day. Kids shower their beloved moms with gifts and greeting cards. This year 9th May 2021 will be celebrated as International Mother’s Day.
History
For a long time Mothering Sunday was celebrated in England during Lent. It was observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent. Later, in the United States, a woman named Ann Reeves Jarvis proposed the idea of Mother’s Day in 1905. On the event of her mother’s death that year she decided to have a day marked in the calendar, honouring the contribution of a mother in a child’s life and upbringing. She dedicated her life and efforts in making Mother’s Day an official holiday in the USA. In 1914 second Sunday of May was given the authorized recognition of Mother’s Day. Since then it became a public holiday in several places across the globe.
Ann Jarvis’s idea of Mother’s Day was deeply personal. She wished the day to be an occasion of bonding between a mother and a child. But soon the day became commercialized and lost its real charm. People started buying Mother’s Day greeting card and bouquets of flowers. Businessmen profited hugely on this day. This disheartened Ann Jarvis. The same woman who fought to give Mother’s Day an official acknowledgment also struggled till her death to take the day off the list of public holidays in the calendar. It is a universally acceptable fact that Mother’s Day should be a day to shower love on mother and mother figures. It is not an exclusive day to purchase costly gifts for one’s birth mother.
An Interesting Story
Ann Jarvis is credited for being the pioneer of Mother’s Day celebration. Yet, much before her, antiwar activists including Ann Jarvis’s own mother and American author Julia Ward Howe celebrated Mother’s Peace Day on around 1872. During American Civil War this day marked the day of unity among mothers. It was symbolic of peace in midst of war.
Reasons to Celebrate It
There are endless reasons to celebrate Mother’s Day. Throwing a grand dinner party in a five star hotel may not be a necessity but to recognize a mother’s involvement in a child’s well-being through little gestures of love is mandatory. A child is able to see the first daylight on this beautiful earth because a mother decides to carry the baby in her womb for nine long months. She smilingly delivers the baby through painful labour. She decides to sacrifice a huge part of her life and happiness to bring up the child. Given a choice between her life and a child’s existence, a mother will happily give up her own. It’s not an exaggeration. It is a mother’s unparalleled love for her child. No love in this world is as unselfish as a mother’s fondness for a child.
Importance of a Mother’s Love
Maternal care is of supreme importance in a child’s life. Even in age-old fairytales daughters like Cinderella suffers in life because they are deprived of a mother’s love. Cinderella’s mom dies at birth, leaving the helpless daughter alone at the mercy of the harsh world. A mother wraps her arms around her child to protect her. A motherless child like Cinderella suffers even in today’s life. A mother is the backbone of a child’s existence. Paternal protectiveness cannot replace motherly concern.
A Social Issue
Celebration of Mother’s Day is indispensable from a social point of view. With daily news of crime against women showing up in television screen and newspapers, the world seems numb and insensitive to a woman’s importance in everyday life. A woman at times feels depressed and dejected. Children can light up a mother’s day with little gestures and gifts like a self-made drawing or self-written poem. They serve as hope in a hopeless existence. Also, the little children learn to make their mothers feel special on Mother’s Day and respect them in everyday life. The boys who care for their mothers at a young age grow up to be men who have reverence for women and wives.
Essentially there’s no need to fix a day to celebrate motherhood. Everyday can be and should be a celebration of a woman’s need in a family. Mother’s Day is just symbolic of the honour a woman is worthy of. Mothers don’t expect a luxurious meal only on this extraordinary day. They crave for their children’s love and devotion in every other ordinary day of the year. Love of a mother is true and constant. It does not demand reciprocation. It is the most unselfish thing on earth. Let Mother’s Day be a celebration of a mother’s magnanimity, her ability to go beyond herself to spread her wings of protection around her treasured child.
By Lagnajita, West Bengal
