Happy Mother’s Day!

Every year, I get Happy Mother’s Day greetings from two sets of people at different times of the year.

The first set of people offering greetings are those in the UK and Nigeria who celebrate Mothering Sunday in March and the second set come from those closer to home here in the States where we will be celebrating the day dedicated to Mothers this Sunday.

Wikipedia provides a detailed explanation of the origin of the different sets of greetings I receive including this list of days when Mother’s Day is celebrated globally, I was astonished at the wide variety –

Second Sunday in February – Norway
Shevat 30 (falls anywhere between January 30 and March 1) – Israel
March 3 – Georgia
March 8 – Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Laos, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, China, Romania*, Slovenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Vietnam* Russia*. This is officially termed International Women’s Day * In Hanoi, Vietnam, Romania, as well as Russia it is observed as International Womens Day, not specifically Mothers day.
Fourth Sunday in Lent (Mothering Sunday – March 18 in 2007) – Ireland, United Kingdom, Nigeria
March 21 (first day of spring) – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen* Large parts of the population in these countries have refrained from celebrating Mothers Day referring to it as a secular tradition having no ties with Islam.
April 20 – Armenia
First Sunday in May – Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain
May 8 South Korea, Albania (Parents’ Day)
May 10 -Mexico, much of South America, El Salvador, Guatemala, Oman
Second Sunday in May – United States, Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Croatia, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, St. Lucia, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe , Pakistan
May 26 – Poland
May 27 – Bolivia
Last Sunday in May – France (except if it coincides with Pentecost day, in which case Mother’s Day will be shifted to the first Sunday of June), Dominican Republic, Haiti, Sweden, Morocco
May 30 – Nicaragua
August 12 – Thailand (the birthday of Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara)
August 15 (Assumption Day) – Antwerp (Belgium), Costa Rica
Second or third Sunday in October – Argentina (Día de la Madre)
Second Monday in October – Malawi
Last Sunday of November – Russia
December 8 – Panama
December 22– Indonesia
20th Jumada al-thani (also called Women’s Day) – Iran and other Muslim sects, especially Shias. The date is the (disputed) birthday of Fatima Zahra. The Islamic calendar is lunar so it cycles relative to the Western calendar.

For all the mothers who celebrate this day with us on Sunday …thank you for all you do and for being you.