International Mother's Day is a day of celebration of motherhood and thanksgiving to the mother, a celebration with ancient Greek references to the worship of the goddess Cybele, the mother of the gods, as Pindar addresses her («Cybele, Mother of the gods»).
In modern times, it was the American social activist Anna Maria Jarvis (1864-1948) who first came up with the idea of establishing a special day to honour mothers. It has since been established as Mother's Day.
Her efforts finally succeeded on May 9, 1914, when then American President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation establishing Mother's Day as a national holiday on the second Sunday in May.
Since then, many countries, including Greece, celebrate International Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May (12 May 2019).
Jarvis chose the white carnation as the Mother's Day flower symbol because «its white color symbolizes the truth, purity and mercy of a mother's love; its fragrance, her memory and prayers.».
Despite the opposition of its inspirer, Mother's Day was quickly commercialized by the flower industry, which found a «godsend» opportunity to increase its sales...
The “roots” in Ancient Greece
The first references to Mother's Day and Motherhood Day come from ancient Greece.
Mother Earth (Gaia), the wife of Uranus, is the personification of nature, who gives birth to the whole world and is worshipped as the supreme deity. The worship is then passed on to her daughter, Rhea, wife and sister of Saturn. Rhea is worshipped as the “Mother of the Gods”, as she appears to be the first to give birth by childbirth and raise her children on mother's milk. The ancient Greeks paid homage to Rhea every spring, as she was also the goddess of the earth and fertility.
The religious dimension of the
In Greece, the celebration of Mother's Day was associated with the feast of the Feast of the Lord's Supper (2 February). Then the Orthodox Church celebrates the Virgin Mary and Joseph taking the 40-day-old Jesus to the Temple for a blessing. To “saranize,” in modern parlance.
A move that Christian mothers still do today (Sarantism). The parallel celebration of the mother began in 1929 with obvious symbolism. But in the 1960s, the celebration faded away and the westernized custom of celebrating the 2nd Sunday in May was reinforced. The church, however, insists on the old day of celebration and organises events on it.
