Mother’s Day tomorrow

Mothers are the most sacred things in our lives. That is why we have Mother’s Day. The oldest Mother’s Day celebration was Mothering Sunday, commemorated on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It is the day when the Pope blesses the golden rose and children feast on mothering cakes. A bunch of violets was the symbol for Mothering Sunday and it was the traditional gift that children presented to their mothers. The custom is said to have originated from the tradition of visiting the Mother Church on that day. To schoolchildren, it meant a holiday that they spent home with their mothers. We have not seen any records that will show that Mothering Sunday was commemorated in the Philippines during the Spanish times.

To make up for lost time, the Philippines now has two Mother’s Day celebrations, one on the second Sunday of May and another one on the first Monday of December. The more popular one is the Mother’s Day that we are commemorating tomorrow. It is the traditional Mother’s Day celebration that started in the United States in May, 1908. The honor of starting a Mother’s Day celebration belongs to Miss Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia who, on the first anniversary of her mother’s death conceived the idea of having a memorial service, not just for her mother, but all mothers everywhere. The idea caught on and by May 10, 1913, the US Senate and House of Representatives passed a bill proclaiming the second Sunday of May a national holiday "dedicated to the memory of the best mother in the world, your mother."

Strange as it may seem the Mother’s Day celebrated on the second Sunday of May was not celebrated in the Philippines throughout the American regime. Instead, we had our own independent Mother’s Day celebration that started in 1927 when the Ilocos Norte Women’s Club petitioined for a national Mother’s Day. For some unknown reason, the then-acting American Governor-General Charles Yeater designated, not the second Sunday of May, but the first Monday of December as Mother’s Day. The celebration was centered, not in individual homes, but in schools where the schoolchildren held programs honoring their mothers. In 1980, Dictator Marcos made the first Sunday of December a prelude to the Mother’s Day celebration by declaring it as Father’s Day.

In June 8, 1988, then-President Corazon Aquino changed the date of Father’s Day to every 3rd Sunday of June. Then, during President Estrada’s short rule, he signed Proclamation No. 58 on December 11, 1998 that combined Father’s and Mother’s Day into one celebration. His reason was that both are necessary for the birth of any person. The date for the joint celebration is the first Monday of December. So now, we have two Mother’s Days, one Father’s Day and a joint Father’s and Mother’s Day. The date is not important. What's important is how we commemorate the occasion.

It is said that Napoleon once asked, "What is wanting in order that the youth of France be well-educated?"

"Good mothers," someone answered.

Napoleon was so impressed with the wisdom of the reply that he responded by saying, "There is a system in one word!"