I had a little argument with Mom over the weekend about Mother’s Day on the so-called Mother’s Day. She was little upset that I refuse recognise Mother’s Day. Not going too deep into the argument, she pointed that I’m being difficult to deal with for going against what is the norm. So I decided to do a little research on the Origins on Mothers Day (& consequently Father’s Day as well) to find the true story behind this celebration.
As a start, this so-called Mother’s Day we’re celebrating is not unique. There are many types of Mother’s Day around the world. A quick check at Wikipedia will show that there are at least 20 other forms of Mother’s Day being celebrated at different dates in other countries. The so-called Mother’s Day that we’re celebrating came directly from the US. For people that hates the US, I just gave you another reason not to celebrate Mother’s Day. (^_^)
Mothers Day was founded by Anna Marie Jarvis. On 1907, two years after her mother’s death, she held a memorial to her mother & thereafter embarked on a campaign to make “Mother’s Day” a nationally recognized holiday in the US. She succeeded in 1914. There is a rumor that Anna’s persistence in making Mother’s Day a public holiday is fueled by the guilt of unable to reconcile the quarrel she had with her mother before she passed away.
Correct me if I’m wrong here but are we celebrating Mother’s Day because someone who is plagued by guilt wants to remember their mom (@_@) ?
Ironically (now this is getting interesting), Anna Jarvis never had any children in her life. The woman that founded & fight for Mother’s Day subsequently spends her remaining days fighting & campaigning against the commercialisation of the holiday itself. She died in 1948 penniless & blind in a nursing home. Her outstanding nursing fees were paid for by one of the corporations she fought against.
In addition, Carnations were used for Mother’s Day celebration simply because carnations were Anna Jarvis mother’s favorite flower. There are no other specific meaning or reason for the use of the flower. Now it kind of makes you look a little stupid for thinking Carnations = I love you Mommy. (^_^;)
Considering the above, don’t you think Mother’s Day was overated? Think about this,
Why do we have to buy expensive dinner for our mothers only on Mother’s Day & not on every other day ? ;
Why do we only show our mothers that we care only on Mothers Day & not on every other day ? ;
And Why the hell are we so stupid to believe that our birthday is just about us & not about our Mothers?
During the argument, Dad raises the stakes by asking me, if the celebration of Mother’s Day makes no sense to me, what about Fathers Day? What about Labor’s Day? What about Valentine’s Day? What about Merdeka Day?
I’ll go into Labor’s Day & Valentine’s Day in a seperate post but I think it’s a little too obvious that Merdeka Day is meant to celebrate Malaya’s independance & seperation from the British rule. Dad, you can’t equate historical dates with celebrations created out of someone’s grief which was commercialised & has lost it’s meaning altogether. (Same goes for Valentine’s Day)
Father’s Days is created after Mother’s Day. It basically came about as Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd (yes, its another lady but she’s not the first to moot the idea) while listening to a Mothers Day sermon, played around with the idea of having an official Father’s Day. She then proceed to honour her father & eventualy the day gained recognition.
(0_0) Duh !
Anyways, I stand by my opinion that our birthdays should be the day where we appreciate our Mother’s love & pains. To be fair to all Fathers (myself included) on our children’s birthday, we should feel proud of our enjoyable efforts. Besides, it’s not as if anyone really cared for Father’s Day. Ask any Father what did they got for Father’s Day & you’ll probably get another question, When was it? (^_^)
Let me change your opinion a little more about Mother’s Day. Read sloone’s entry on Not Everyone Want’s a Mother’s Day. It’s a great article, though it’s not really related to my opinions above.
p/s : I love you Mom & Dad. Just wish you could try to understand me more. A lot of thing can be iron out between us if you would just take some time to really listen & hear what I had to say.
