Mother’s Day celebration past & present

Commemorating Mother’s Day is a 20th-century phenomenon. Although in the past, the ancient spring festival was dedicated to the Great Mother of the Gods, the symbol of universal motherhood. A possible link between the ancient practice and the present Mother’s Day celebration may be Mothering Sunday, the mid-Lent Sunday when it was customary for children to give token gifts to their mothers. But Mother’s Day observed in the second Sunday of May is part of our American heritage.

In 1921, the Ilocos Norte Federation of Women’s Clubs requested the American Governor to declare the first Monday of December as our National Mother’s Day. The request was granted and we had our own Mother’s Day. When the Philippine Commonwealth was organized, President Manuel L. Quezon also declared the first Monday of December as Mother’s Day. The event was celebrated by school children and the main feature of the celebration was that the pupils work pink cadena de amor to honor their living mothers and white if they had already died. The practice did not survive World War II. But the National Federation of Women’s Clubs of the Philippines initiated its own traditional practice by honoring five outstanding mothers every year. Three mothers of Philippine presidents have so far been the recipient of these awards – Rosario Roxas, mother of President Roxas, Josefa Edralin Marcos, mother of President Ferdinand E. Marcos and Maria Ejercito, mother of deposed president Joseph Estrada.

In November 27, 1980, President Marcos re-affirmed Pres. Quezon’s issued his own proclamation upholding Pres. Quezon’s decree making the first Monday of December the country’s official Mother’s Day. But President Corazon C. Aquino on June 8, 1988 issued a proclamation that reverted our Mother’s Day commemoration back to the second Sunday of May. In 1995, Senator Gregorio B. Honasan filed Senate Bill No. 1184 declaring Mother’s Day back to the first Monday of December. Senator Raul Roco, then Chairman of the Education Committee froze the bill .

On December 11, 1998, President Estrada signed a proclamation making the first Monday of the last month of the year National Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. Senator Honasan, on the other hand, revived his Senate Bill No. 1184 and the senate committee has approved the bill.

There is no doubt that Mother’s Day is the most confusing day that we celebrate. So some will be celebrating it the second Sunday of May which falls tomorrow, others on the first Monday of December.

Mother’s Day is the mother of confusion.