Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Mother's Day

Most countries celebrate Mother's Day. On this day, it is common for Mothers to be lavished with special attention from their children and loved ones. But it hasn’t always been this way.
Only recently named “Mother's Day,” the highly traditional practice of honoring of Motherhood is rooted in antiquity, and past rites typically had strong symbolic and spiritual overtones. Societies tended to celebrate Goddesses and symbols. The actual celebrating of Mom for Mother’s Day is a relatively new occurance. The maternal objects of adoration ranged from mythological female deities to the Christian Church itself. Only in the past few centuries did celebrations of Motherhood develop a human focus and not until the 1900s was it an accepted holiday in the USA.
The earliest historical records celebrating a Mother deity is found with the ancient Egyptians, who held a yearly festival to honor Isis. Isis had a stern, handsome head crowned by a pair of bull horns enclosing a fiery sun orb. Isis’ brother-husband Osiris was slain and dismembered in 13 pieces by their jealous brother Seth, Isis re-assembled Osiris’ body and then used it to impregnate herself. She gave birth to Horus, whom she was forced to hide amongst the reeds so he wouldn't be slaughtered by Seth. Horus grew up and defeated Seth. He then became ruler of Egypt. Thus Isis became as the Mother of the pharaohs.
The Mother and Son imagery of Isis and Horus, in which Isis cradles and suckles her son, is similar to Mary and baby Jesus.
Julia Ward Howe Howe initially worked to have a Mother's Day made a national holiday in the United States but was unsuccessful. Unless she personally funded the ocasion it didn't seem to work.Despite the decided failure of her holiday, Howe had nevertheless planted the seed that would bloom into what we know as Mother’s Day today. A West Virginia women’s group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday. In order to re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War, the group held a Mother’s Friendship Day.
After Anna Reeves Jarvis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. In 1908, Anna petitioned the superintendent of the church where her Mother had spent over 20 years teaching Sunday School. Her request was honored, and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother's Day celebration took place at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The West Virginia event drew a congregation of 407 and Anna Jarvis arranged for white carnations, her Mother’s favorite flower, to adorn the women. Two carnations were given to every Mother in attendance. White carnations are used to honor deceased Mothers, while pink or red carnations honor Mothers who are still alive. Andrew's Methodist Church exists to this day, and was incorporated into The International Mother's Day Shrine in 1962.
This little country church still holds the charm to invite Moms' to enter and worship!
Mom's need to be appreciated all the time so click on the link below to lavish her with special recipes from famous restaurants...
https://paydotcom.com/r/43498/slkernik/18151561/

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