Happy Mother's Day to All...........
Today is Mother's Day and coincidentally this year it falls on the same day as Mexican Mother's Day, because you see, in Mexico we have a fixed date for this holiday, May 10th, no matter what..... the UK had "Mothering Day" on March 22nd, while other countries all have their particular dates for this holiday or not, like India who's just beginning to celebrate this occasion due to Western influence.
Did you ever wonder how a child ended up with a specific mother? According to Sufi mysticism, the soul of the child looks down at the world and sees every soul that resides in every woman. When he finds the one that will be able to help him fulfill his life's purpose, he makes his choice. The relationship between the mother and child is no accident. At times the child may
reject his mother and wish he had a different one. Remember your soul made the choice for a reason. This woman can help you live your purpose.Harmony and Beauty
The Only Being United with all the illuminated souls
Who form the embodiment of the Mother,
The Spirit of Guidance.
Amin
Nepal - Mother's Day....
Mata Tirtha Aunshi falls in the month of Baishak dark fortnight (April). This festival falls in the time of dark moon’s time which is why it's called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" derived from words: “Mata” meaning mother; “Tirtha” meaning pilgrimage. This festival is observed in the commemoration and respect of the mother which is celebrated by worshipping and gifting living mother or remembering mothers who have become immortal and are resting in peace. Going to Mata Tirtha Pilgrimage located towards the Kathmandu valley’s eastern side at Mata Tirtha Village development committee’s periphery is another tradition common in Nepal.
There is a veryinteresting legend regarding this pilgrimage. In ancient times Lord Krishna’s mother Devaki walked out her house to sight-see. She visited many places and delayed a lot to return back at her house. Lord Krishna became very unhappy because of his mother’s
disappearance. So he went out in search of his mother to many places without success. Finally, when he reached “Mata Tirtha Kunda”, he happened to see his mother taking bath there in the spouts of that pond. Lord Krishna was very happy to find her there and narrated all of his tragedies in the absence of his mother. Mother Devaki said to lord Krishna that “oh! Son Krishna let then, this place be the pious rendezvous of children to meet their departed mothers”. So legends believe that since then this place had become a noted holy pilgrimage to see back a devotees’ deceased mother. Also legend believes that a devotee saw his mother’s image inside the pond and he happened to die falling there down. So still there is a small pond fenced by the iron rods in the place even on this present day as well. After the worship the pilgrimage enjoy there singing and dancing throughout the day in the festive mood. There is not evidence of happening of this legend as these are coming from elders based on ancient readings.
All over the world they celebrate this day (Father's Day came much, much later....) on different days and in different ways, but if we go back to the beginning of it all.....The modern Mother's Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis, as a day to honor m
others and motherhood; especially within the context of families, and family relationships.
The practice of celebrating Mother's Day is a relatively recent tradition, first established in the U.S.A. in the early 20th century. It should not be confused with other pagan and Christian traditions honoring mothers, or with the U.K. holiday, Mothering Sunday, which is also known as Mother's Day and dates back to the 16th century.
In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association.
"She was specific about the location of the apostrophe; it was to be a singular possessive, for each family to honor their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world."
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and spent all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuse of the celebration.
Later commercial and other exploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Anna and she made her criticisms explicitly known throughout her time. She criticized the practice of purchasing greeting cards, which she saw as a sign of being too lazy to write a personal letter.
She was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting against the commercialization of Mother's Day, and she finally said that she "wished she would have never started the day because it became so out of control ...".
Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially-successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.
For example, according to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and another $68 million on greeting cards.
Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008, with custom gifts like mother's rings.
No doubt the present economic slowdown will bring about a lessening of all this commercial expression and instead make us look back and define what our Mother's mean to us in a more meaningful and less monetary way.
Mexico's financial problems added to the AH1N1 Influenza virus meant families would stay at home to avoid exposure, but now with Mother's Day the television announcements have changed from "stay home" to "stay at home and spend time with the family" especially on Mother's Day giving the focus on taking time to give "Mother" small touches of caring, like cooking for her instead of having her cook (yes, Mom's cook her all the time still...) or taking her out to eat; letting her sleep in or letting her shower while the kids clean up the house for her; making her breakfast while she showers; getting the family together to play games and talk with the invariable BBQ feast in the afternoon, etc.
In that sense I guess you could say the economic and health situations have caused people to take note and re-evaluate the holidays and time spent with the family and value "other" things more than we did before. It's not just about recognizing "Mom" on this ONE day of the year, buy her a present (or order something online and have it delivered), but actually to go out of your way and spend the
most valuable commodity there is, "YOUR TIME", on her, doing something she likes to do.
We keep saying "it's the thought that counts...", well, now you can truly put that into action and think on it, be creative, be thoughtful and be practical.... but most of all, spend your time and effort with that someone who made it possible for YOU to be here thinking about this..... plus, you can do it now and not wait until it's too late either......
Hope your holiday is a good one.... Make it count!
ps.- My kids are running around doing things for me (and making me crazy too!) but it's nice to have.... so enjoy it!.....
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