Interesting Mother's Day Facts

Mother's Day falls on May 8, the second Sunday of May this year. The correct spelling should be Mother's Day, according to Anna Jarvis, a peace activist and the woman who started it all in  1908 to honour her own mother.

Most other countries will be celebrating it on the same day. But some countries celebrate it on a different day. Spain, Romania and Portugal have it on the first Sunday of May, while Nepal follows the lunar calendar and their Mata Tirtha Puja falls on the last day of the fortnight of the waning moon in the month of Baishakh. In other countries, the date is fixed, Indonesia's Hari Ibu falls on December 22, whereas in the Middle East, it is celebrated on March 21 and Thailand chose Queen Sirikit's official birthday on August 12 for example.

There is also a flower associated with Mother's Day. In most countries, it is the carnation but in Australia, it is the chrysanthemum. In China, which currently follows the western tradition of presenting carnations to mothers, there is a movement to go back to the old tradition of lilies (which mothers planted when their children left home.)

And here are a few really unexpected facts about Mother's Day -

1.In the UK, Mothering Sunday is NOT actually Mother's Day. It is a religious holiday when one was supposed to visit one's mother church and falls on the 4th Sunday of Lent (March 6 this year).

2.Armenians celebrate Mother's Day twice on March 8 and April 7 as Maternity and Beauty Day.

3.Bolivia celebrates Mother's Day on May 27, to commemorate the Battle of La Coronilla when when women fighting for their country's independence were slaughtered by the Spanish army in the city of Cochabamba.

And here are a couple of things that only mothers will endure for their children -

1.Joanna Kryzstonek, a Polish woman, endured 75 days of labour almost upside down to save the last two of her triplets after the first one died. 

2.Octopus mothers don't eat or rest while looking after their eggs. A giant Pacific octopus can spend up to 53 months doing that, eventually dying of exhaustion and malnutrition when her eggs hatch.

So, have you booked your Mother's Day lunch with Bayview yet?