In what has been a very trying year, it has never been more important that we show our appreciation for our moms this Mother’s Day. Here are fifteen fun facts about Mother’s Day.
1. “In Greek mythology spring festivals were held in honor of the maternal goddess called, Rhea. She was the wife of Cronus and was believed to be the mother of many deities.”
2. “While the modern American Mother’s Day didn’t evolve until years later, the most clear precursor to the holiday was the Christian celebration of “Mothering Sunday.” In the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, Mothering Sunday fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent, where parishioners would return to their “mother” church.”
3. “In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked both ‘Mother's Day' and ‘the second Sunday in May'. She also created Mother's Day International Association.”
4. “Social activist Julia Ward Howe first brought the idea of a day centering on mothers to the United States after the Civil War, but Howe's version was much different from the flowers-and-hugs version we know today. Howe wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation and envisioned a Mother's Day for Peace, in which women would protest against war. Some groups still observe the holiday in this manner, one of the most famous being a huge crowd of women who gathered outside the Lawrence Livermore Library at the University of California in 1982 to protest nuclear weapons.”
5. “Approximately 65% of card sales occur five days prior to Mother's Day.”
6. “Shoppers plan to buy gifts for more than just their mom. Twenty-three percent will buy gifts for their wives, 10% for their daughters, and 9% will buy gifts for a sister.”
7. “More calls are made on Mother's Day than any other day of the year. Approximately 122 million calls are made on the second Sunday of May.”
8. “After Christmas and Hanukkah, more people buy flowers and plants for their moms on Mother's Day than any other holiday. Around approximately one quarter of all the flowers purchased throughout the year are bought for Mother's Day.”
9. “Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., organized a march on Mother’s Day in 1968 in support of underprivileged women and children.”
10. “Today, Mother’s Day is celebrated in more than 50 countries, but not all on the second Sunday in May. For example, India has a ten-day Mother’s Day celebration in October.”
11. “Australia celebrates Mother’s Day with blooming vivacious flowers on second Sunday of May month. All the women figures in the family are also showered with beautiful flowers. Several events are organized for this grand day in most parts of the continent to raise money and awareness on female issues.”
12. “Ancient Egyptians believed that 'Bast' was the mother of all cats on Earth, and that cats were sacred animals.”
13. “Elvis Presley, was a mama's boy. He slept in the same bed with his mother, Gladys, until he reached puberty. Up until Elvis entered high school, she walked him back and forth to school every day and made him take along his own silverware so that he wouldn't catch germs from the other kids. Gladys forbade young Elvis from going swimming or doing anything that might put him in danger. The two of them also conversed in a strange baby talk that only they could understand.”
14. “Mother’s Day is the third most popular holiday in the world, second to only Christmas and Easter.”
15. “US Mother’s Day Sale Statistics
Cards: $813 million
Flowers: $2.6 billion
Jewelry: $4.6 billion
Personal services (spa, pedicure): $1.8 billion
Total retail sales: $23.1 billion
Total online sales: $6.9 billion”
(Sources: www.cutcokitchen.com, www.thedailymeal.com, www.cnn.com, www.softschools.com, www.osr.org, www.foxnews.com, www.womansday.com, www.mothersdaycelebration.com, www.happyworker.com, www.townandcountrymag.com, www.cmo.adobe.com)
