May 13, 2001 05:13 AM
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(I am not going to review Maxim Gorky’s “MOTHER” since Venchasa has done it beautifully. As there is no slot for Mother's Day on MS, I have just taken the liberty of using ''Mother'' to pay my tribute to all the mothers of the world on Mothers Day-Today)
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.
Mothers are angels on earth, always at hand to doctor scraped knees, boost dampened spirits, and guide us through the minor setbacks in life. They are models of inspirations, patient counsellors, and sterling examples. They must be everything to everybody.
The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honour of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called ''Mothering Sunday&''. During this period England's poor, especially the children, worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch. As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honour the ''Mother Church'' - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration. People began honouring their mothers as well as the church.
In the United States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year. In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. She started a compaign, writing to businessmen, politicians and other prominent leaders to establish a national Mother’s Day and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day as a national holiday, to be held on 2nd Sunday of May.
While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium, which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May.
A poet once wrote:
A mother is someone to shelter and guide us,
to love us, whatever we do,
with a warm understanding and infinite patience
and wonderful gentleness, too.
How often a mother means swift reassurance
in soothing our small, childish fears,
how tenderly mothers watch over their children
and treasure them all through the years!
The heart of a mother is full of forgiveness
for any mistake, big or small,
and generous always in helping her family,
whose needs she has placed above all.
A mother can utter a word of compassion
and make all our cares fall away;
She can brighten a home with the sound of her laughter
and make life delightful and gay.
A mother possesses incredible wisdom
And wonderful insight and skill -
In each human heart is that one special corner
which only a mother can fill!
I just wonder why people in India have to celebrate Mother's Day, as billions of Indians, around the globe, very well know that in India every day is Mother's Day. If Indians want to imitate the West and celebrate the Mother's Day on the day Americans do who am I to dispute?
