International Mother’s Day today

Staff Correspondent: International Mother’s Day is being observed across the country as elsewhere in the world, with much affection.

The Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May every year paying tributes and gratitude to mothers around the world.

The day is celebrated in Bangladesh through different programmes in electronic media and according grand reception to mothers of jewels recognising their contributions to the family, society and nation.

The earliest Mother’s Day celebration can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honour of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600s, England celebrated a day called “Mothering Sunday”.

In the United States, the Mother’s Day celebration started in 1872 by peace activist Julia Ward Howe, who was horrified by the carnage and suffering of the Civil War and wrote a proclamation calling on women to unite and oppose war.

However, more than 40 countries, including Bangladesh, observe the day following American culture that originated from the thought that Anna Jarvis, daughter of Anna Reeves Jarvis. Anna’s initiatives led to the establishment of Mother’s Day in 1905.

In 1914, Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States, declared the first national Mother’s Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honour of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Listen: a song of Mahbubul A Khalid that pays tribute to Maa (mother)

 

risingbd/Dhaka/May 13, 2018/Nasim