This Sunday, May 13, will be a very special day in India, the United States and in many other countries, for we will be celebrating Mother’s Day. Whether we celebrate it on the thirteenth of May, or, as in the UK, on the eighteenth of March, is not very important. What is important is that we do celebrate it. The first instances we know of Mother's Day celebrations are those of the early Greeks when they held an annual spring festival to honor Rhea, the mother of many gods and goddesses in the Greek pantheon. The early Romans are also known to have celebrated a festival in spring to honor Cybele, a mother goddess. In the sixteenth century the English celebrated ‘Mothering Sunday’ every year to honor mothers. At this festival all children who had left their homes in search of work would return to spend the day with their mothers. They took with them a cake known as the ’mothering cake’ to enjoy with the family. This custom more or less died out with the industrial revolution, but was revived by American soldiers resident in Britain later on. Today, Mother’s Day is celebrated each year on the second Sunday of May with flowers, tributes and family celebrations. But this is a fairly recent custom for us –less than a hundred years old, and we celebrate it mainly as a result of the efforts of two wonderful women. Julia Ward Howe was a writer, poet, feminist, activist and much more. Although she became quite famous for her many achievements such as writing the famous song, “ The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” she will always be remembered for the part she played in restoring dignity to women and to motherhood. She fought uncompromisingly for women related issues such as the right to vote. One of six children, Julia lost her mother when she was only five years old. Well educated and well accomplished, she nonetheless grew up pretty and popular. Married and with a growing family, Julia still remained dedicated to the female cause and even wrote her now famous ‘Mother’s Day Proclamation’ in 1870. Later, in 1872, during the Franco-Prussian war, she had this proclamation translated into several languages and distributed. She also promoted an International Woman’s Peace Congress in London in the same year. She then started a Mothers' Peace Day celebration and observed it every second Sunday of May. Ultimately, however, the honor of being 'Founder of Mothers Day' and 'Mother of Mothers Day' went to Anna Jarvis who was born in 1864, when Julia was still alive and still very passionate about her mission. Anna Jarvis was inspired to start Mother’s Day quite early in life. It so happened that one day, when Anna was about twelve years old her mother had given the class Anna was in a lesson on “Mothers of the Bible”. In conclusion, her mother prayed that someone, sometime would start a Mother’s Day memorial to honor all mothers and all the selfless work they do. Anna never forgot her mother’s words and as, at 41, she stood at her mother’s grave in 1905, (Julia Ward was to die five years later in 1910) she promised her mother she would have that “Mother’s Day”. It was then that she and some of her supporters wrote petitions for and promoted the cause of an official holiday for Mother’s Day. Although she herself was not the typical traditional stay-at-home mother she worked very hard toward respecting and honoring such mothers. To initiate the Mother’s Day celebration Anna began to send carnations which were her mother’s favorite flowers to her local church and asked the people to wear them in honor of their mothers. There were white carnations meant to honor mothers who had passed away and red ones to honor mothers who were still living. This idea became very popular and the state of West Virginia recognized the Mother’s Day holiday in 1910. Several states followed this example until by 1911 it was celebrated in practically every state. Then President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution on May 08, 1914 naming the second Sunday in May each year as Mother’s Day. Since then, the idea has taken off and today Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world. There is a touch of sadness to the ending of this story, however. Although Anna Jarvis had dedicated practically her entire adult life for the setting up and recognition of Mother’s Day she was saddened that it had been commercialized. In fact, it is said that she eventually rued her action of starting the ‘Mother’s Day’ tradition. So, whether you are a daughter or a mother, a son or a father, there is some Mother you can honor on this day. A kind word, a kind deed, a small token of gratitude, these can honor any mother. Yes, people may say, “We don’t need a special day to honor our mothers. We can do that any and every day of the year.” True, and you are welcome to that, and should do that, but everybody loves a day specially dedicated to them. (You still do look forward to your birthday, don’t you?) So, what’s to keep you from calling on your Mother and saying, “I love you”?