Mother`s Day

In most countries Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May, among them the USA, Canada, most European countries, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, the Philippines and South Africa. One notable exception to this rule is the UK and Ireland, which celebrate Mother's Day on the fourth Sunday in Lent. Most Arab countries celebrate Mother's Day on March 21st. Some East European countries celebrate Mother's Day on March 8th. There are also debates about who came up with the holiday first and lawsuits about who can use the name "Mother's Day."

According to some researchers, the origin of Mother's Day took place in the early 1900s. A woman named Anna Jarvis started a campaign for an official holiday honoring mothers in 1905, the year her own mother died. The first larger-scale celebration of the holiday was in 1908 when Jarvis held a public memorial for her mother (who played an important role uniting women for good causes) in her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia.

Over the next few years, Jarvis pushed to have the holiday officially recognized, and it was celebrated increasingly in more and more states around the U.S. Finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation making Mother's Day an official holiday, to take place the second Sunday of May.

Even after Anna Jarvis was successful in getting Mother's Day made an official national holiday, she wasn't satisfied with the way that holiday was celebrated. She had teamed up with florists while she was lobbying to get the holiday recognized, even recommending a white carnation as the symbolic flower of Mother's Day.

However, in the first few years of the holiday's official existence, Jarvis observed as florists, candy-makers and card-makers, and even charities used Mother's Day as a way to make an extra buck. The commercialization of Mother's Day, according to Jarvis, defeated the whole point of a holiday that was supposed to be about celebrating the personal, individual connection between a mother and her children. From about 1920 onward, Jarvis fought hard to prevent businesses from profiting by means of Mother's Day cards, candy, flowers, and other gifts. Although she had fought to be recognized as the one and only "Mother of Mother's Day," she later lobbied to have the holiday removed from the calendar of national holidays, and spent piles of her own money in lawsuits against profiteers she saw as using the Mother's Day name in vain.

Mother`s Day today

Nowadays in many countries special prayer services are held in churches in honor of mothers. But the most common method of celebrating Mothers Day is to treat mothers with breakfast in bed. Children allow their mothers to sleep till late in the morning while they along with their father prepare her favourite breakfast in the kitchen. Most often a Mothers Day card and a bunch of bouquets accompany the meticulously laid breakfast. Many children prepare a card themselves a day before Mothers Day. Some also make handmade gifts to show their respect and affection for their mother. Grown-up children prefer to buy gifts from the stores ranging from clothes, accessories to jewelry. Some consider having dinner at home with the family as an ideal way of celebrating Mothers Day, many on the other hand prefer to dine out. There are a lot of games and activities which may be planned on Mothers Day without emptying your wallet. Besides, the euphoria of celebration people must not forget that the day is meant to make mothers feel special.

Note!  In 2017, the expected total spending for Mother's Day in the United States is $23.6 billion. That's an average of $186.39 per shopper.

https://www.mothersdaycelebration.com/mothers-day-celebrations.html

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/history-of-mothers-day