Fun Facts about Mother’s Day

6th May 2022 Off By Marketing

Mother’s Day is a day that we should all stop and take notice of the special woman or women in our lives that have been there for us through thick and thin.

Mother’s Day is steeped with tradition and amazing fun facts. Herewith some interesting and fun facts for you and mom to read on her special day..

 

Historical

  • Mother’s Day dates back to pagan celebrations in ancient Greece in honour of Rhea, the mother of the gods. In 250 B.C. ancient Romans celebrated a spring festival called, Hilaria, dedicated to a mother goddess named, Cybele.
  • In England around the 1600’s, Mothering Sunday took place on the 4th Sunday of Lent. A prayer service was held in honour of the Virgin Mary and afterwards children would give their mothers flowers.
  • The tradition of Mother’s Day was first suggested In 1870 by Julia Ward a female activist, poet andwriter who requested a day of peace. She strongly advocated that women stand up against the war. Although the holiday didn’t catch on at that point, she was able to get Boston to recognize mothers on the second Sunday of June.
  • In 1907 another crusade to implement Mother’s Day began. Anna Jarvis who lost her mother two years earlier, believed that children tend to neglect their mothers until it was too late. Anna tirelessly campaigned and on 8 May 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

Surprises

  • Around one quarter of all flowers purchased throughout the year falls on Mother’s Day.
  • Carnations were used for the first Mother’s Day because it was Mrs. Jarvis’s favourite. Red or pink carnations became the symbol of a living mother, while white represented those who were lost.
  • Research and studies have found that by giving a bouquet of flowers can have positive health and psychological benefits.
  • In Thailand, parades in dedication to mother’s are held, and jasmine is the flower most commonly gifted to moms.

 

Fun Facts

  • The moniker ‘Mom’ comes from babies. The first thing a baby can vocalize is the ‘ma’ sound, which is why in almost every language the word for mother begins with the letter ‘M’ or some iteration of the ‘ma’ sound.
  • Can you say mother in any other languages? Mother is ‘Mère’ in French, ‘Mutter’ in German, ‘Madre’ in Italian and ‘Matka’ in Polish.
  • In what was formerly Yugoslavia, children would tie up their mother on Mother’s Day and the only way she could get free would be to pay her children with treats.
  • Common Mother’s Day gifts include: cards, flowers, meals in restaurants, jewellery, gift cards, clothing, trips to a spa, books, CDs, housewares and even gardening tools.
  • Approximately 122 million calls are made to mothers on Mother’s Day in the United States alone! That’s a lot of caring children and happy moms.

 

Strange But True

  • In 1939, Lina Marcela Medina, the youngest mother on record delivered a baby boy by C-section. She was 5 years and 7 months old. The baby was raised as her brother.
  • The highest number of children born to one mother was to a woman who lived in sixteenth-century Russia. She had 69 children with her husband Feodor Vassilyev. They included sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets!
  • The oldest woman to deliver a baby was recorded on April 9, 2003. Her name is, Satyabhama Mahapatra, a 65-year-old retired schoolteacher in India. She gave birth to a baby boy, her first child after 50 years of marriage. However, the eggs were donated by her 26 year-old niece.
  • The the shortest span between two babies was when Jayne Bleackley gave birth to her son on 3 September 1999 and on 30 March 2000 only 208 days later she gave birth to her daughter. .

 

Mother’s Day is the time to recognize not just your mom but that special female in your life, it could be a relative, family friend, teacher or coach. Spoil them not just with gift but with love and appreciation for everything they do throughout the year.