diumenge, 22 de març del 2009

IT'S MOTHER'S DAY IN ENGLAND TODAY

Mother's Day was created as a day for each family to honour its mother, celebrated on various days in many places around the world. It complements Father's Day, the celebration honoring fathers.

It is a relatively modern concept, not to be confused with the 16th century celebration of Mothering Sunday, which is also known as Mother's Day in the UK and it is a Christian festival celebrated throughout Europe.As the Roman Empire and Europe converted to Christianity, Mothering Sunday celebrations became part of the liturgical calendar as Laetare sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and the "mother church". In later times, Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mothers and other family members.

Different countries celebrate Mother'sDay on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins. One claim says this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held in Asia Minor and eventually in Rome in March.

The ancient romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.

Mother's Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world. Two primary results are first the one on the fourth Sunday in Lent, from the British tradition of Mothering Sunday (it is also called ladies day and women's day), and the one on the second Sunday in May.

The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture .

Today, Sunday the 22nd of March, the English are celebrating Mother's Day. So to all my English friends who are mothers, and because you all deserve it,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!