Our mothers would surely deserve more than one day of tribute a year. We honor your dedication, commitment and love on first sunday of may every year (in Spain), but since when has it been like this? Find out in this article about the history and origin of Mother’s Day.
History and origin of Mother’s Day
The Mother’s Day It is a celebration that in Spain falls on the first Sunday of May. All of us are used to this celebration since we went to school and made crafts to give to our mothers on such an important day (who has not done it at some time? But, what is the real origin of Mother’s Day?When was it first held?? Who was the first to consider it as a official celebration day?
Believe it or not, it didn’t appear out of nowhere so that superstores would get fed up with selling flowers, scarves, necklaces and perfumes designed for the Mother’s Day. It has its history and goes back many centuries. So don’t miss out on overstory, of everything that happened until discovering what we know today as Mother’s Day.
History and origin of Mother’s Day: Antiquity
The first celebration of which there is evidence in Antiquity, of Mother’s Day, we owe it to the egyptiansa celebration in which symbolism and mythology came together to pay homage to the Great mother goddess, Isis.
Mythology tells that when Osiris was killed by his brother Seth, he dismembered his body and divided it into 13 parts to later spread them on the ground. Isis, woman and sister of the deceased Osiris, broken with pain, collected each of the 13 pieces of her beloved and united them, after rebuilding the body she was impregnated with her essence, becoming pregnant.
Horus, his son was forced to live hidden among reeds for fear that Seth would discover the son of Osiris and decide to sacrifice him. Horus was formed and grew older, aware of the story that happened with Seth, he prepared the meeting, fought and defeated him. Horus would become the first ruler of a unified Egypt. In this way he was like the goddess Isis obtained the category of Great Goddess Mother, of the pharaohs.
With the arrival of herodotus to Egypt with the purpose of looking for information on the Medical Wars, he was impressed with the Egyptian culture, so different from the Greek to which he was accustomed, he soaked up its culture and also certain rites and traditions, as was the adoration of the Mother Goddess.
The mother figure has been widely revered in many cultures to this day. In the Ancient Greece tribute was already paid to Rhea, the mother of Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. So the Greeks celebrated this long-awaited festival, as a veneration for the mother of the gods they worship. She was no longer just the mother of her gods, but she was also considered the fertility goddess and the goddess of mother earth.
The celebration took place in the Cibeles temple, the March, 15th and it lasted three days.
What’s more, if we go even further back in time, even to the time when we still lived in caves, the prehistory, You can also have ample examples of the veneration of the mother figure, as can be inferred from the rudimentary figures of the time, in which very voluminous women were represented on many occasions who represented, again, the fertility.
History and origin of Mother’s Day: 17th century
With the arrival of Christianity, Europe humanized the figure of the mother, reaching another conception. Of the pagan gods of Rome, the figure of Cybele is modified and changed to that of the virgin mary and it is to her that the celebration is addressed. The date chosen for this celebration was the fourth Sunday of Lent (Lent is the 40 days of fasting prior to Easter Sunday), the date on which he went to the church where he had been baptized with flowers and offerings.
The reason why they had to go to the church where they had received their baptism was because they were baptized in churches with a Marian dedication, that is, consecrated to the Virgin Mary. Thus when an individual was baptized he was automatically ascribed to that church and therefore considered his Mother Church.
Later, in 1600, an ecclesiastical decree signed in the already Protestant England of Elizabeth I, overturned the conception of this day, now it was a day to honor all women that they would have been a mother. In the midst of feudal times, this festival was a day of release for all workers. A Sunday that the citizens took advantage of to spend with their families.
The mothers received their children, many of them far apart. The mothers prepared sweets and decorated the houses with flowers. Everyone returned to their hometowns and even some noble women used this day to do acts of charity with the most people in need.
These types of celebrations were not only held in Spain, but also in many countries of South Americaof Spanish speech and in addition, Christian religion, in the majority.
But also, it was celebrated in Europe the “Sunday to serve the mother”, which was respected so much, that although there were day laborers at that time, who lived far from their maternal homes, they were given money, so they did not have to work throughout the day and thus be able to go to visit mother. It was a party that was received with great joy since they were not only paid to go to their homes, but they could see the relatives from whom they were far away.
History and origin of Mother’s Day: Modern Origin
With the arrival of the first settlers English to North America, also brought their customs and traditions. Initially this holiday was interrupted, a festivity that had no tradition in the new continent was not going to be missed. So while the British colonist rested, his workers continued to work.
This interruption in the celebration was explained by a simple lack of time, although other theories point to the extremely puritanical character of the first English settlers, who interpreted the old belief, the festival of the mother, but that of the Mother Church. Their celebrations were simply limited to going to church, a church stripped of all ornament.
Already from the point of USA, we can see how this festivity is settling. Although it had already reached Europe, it had not yet fully settled in America. But if we refer to Mother’s Day as we know it today, its origin comes, of course, from the United States. There were two events that made it settle definitively, on Mother’s Day.
One of them was with Julia Ward-Howea writer and lyricist who wanted dedicate a day to mothersfor the work they did. But he was not recognized. So he dedicated himself to organize different meetings, to celebrate on his own, where he invited the mothers of Boston. She left a trail already quite strong, because she wanted to do it officially, after centuries with celebrations, but with a woman, she definitely settled.
Specifically, it was a housewife named Anna Reeves-Jarvisthat in 1908, the first to hold a meeting to honor his motherrecently deceased.
He created the association in homage to his mother, not only because he loved and respected her, but also to commemorate the death of a woman who gave her life during the Civil warwhere she was a nurse and tried to take care of patients from both sides.
Due to this, because he was very young and needed his mother, when he grew up, he sent letters to different organizations, so that they could give them to the mothers, the day they deserve so much. He was no longer just commemorating his mother, he was getting all mothers to be shown the respect they deserved. This became a custom where, year after year, other mothers would get together to chat about current issues. The initiative was so successful that 1914 President Wilson made it an official celebration.
History and origin of Mother’s Day: In Spain
In Spain on Mother’s Day today has a connotation very familiar, But it was not always like this. As we have already mentioned with the arrival of Christianity in the Roman Empire, the pagan representations became Christianized. In fact, the representation of Isis is with her son Horus in her arm, curiously the same as the representation, many centuries after the Virgin Mary.
later in full Middle Ages, the image of mother and who was venerated on mother’s day was the Virgin Mary, motherhood for Christianity is very important, and if there was a virgin who represented this motherhood, that virgin was the Immaculate Conception of Jesus.
The day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8, the day chosen by the Vatican to celebrate the miracle of conception and therefore, December 8 was established as Mother’s Day.
This veneration of the Immaculate Conception permeated a country as Catholic as Spain, which in 1644 proclaimed December 8 as the National Holiday. Today in Spain we celebrate the Mother’s Day the first Sunday of May.
History and origin of Mother’s Day: The Aztecs
cultures like the Aztec they also honored motherhood. The goddess Coyolxauhqui or Tonatzinmother of god Hitzilopochtli, She was worshiped as a Mother Goddess.
According to its mythological history, the pregnant goddess Coyolxauhqui of Huitzilopochtli, was killed by the stars, during the creation of the world, the reason was her pregnancy, the child she was going to give birth to represented the Sun, enemy of the darkness where the stars lived. But Huitzilopochtli managed to be born and defeat the darkness.
The love that the Aztecs felt towards their mother goddess was enormous, the sculptures in gold and silver more beautiful, because of what she represented as a mother.
She was dedicated to different rituals and celebrationslike the ritual that was celebrated in the spring to honor the mother of all the Gods on the Tepeyac hill, Tonatzin, which translated means “our venerable mother.”
The pilgrimages and festivities carried out by the Aztecs to honor the goddess Tonatzin, were of a religious nature, where people from all over the Mexican territory, pilgrimage to the Mount Tepeyac, in recognition of the mother.
The goddess Tonatzin was the one who gave life, hence its importance, in addition to being the goddess of war and death. She was represented as a lady with beautiful, elegant and white clothes, the night being the moment of her revelations, when the goddess proclaimed.
The story tells that the goddess Tonatzin carried some cradle baskets, He mixed with the women in the markets and suddenly disappeared, leaving the cradle with a flint, with which they should make a sacrifice in his honor. So that woman I would get pregnant.
Lastly, a warning. Don’t you dare not congratulate your mother. She deserves it.
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