When is Mother's Day 2017? UK date, facts and traditions
It's Mother's Day tomorrow
Mother's Day - or Mothering Sunday - is on Sunday, March 26.
The day is always on the fourth Sunday of Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday and usually in the second half of March or early April.
The day is a celebration of mothers and the maternal bond and traditionally children give flowers, presents and cards to their mothers, and other maternal figures such as grandmothers, stepmothers and mothers-in-law.
When did Mothering Sunday begin?
The day has long been associated with mothers and family. For centuries it was custom for people to return home to their ‘mother’ church on Laetare Sunday – the middle of Lent. Those who did so were said to have gone ‘a-mothering’.
The day often turned into a family reunion and a chance for children working away from home – often young domestic servants - to spend time with their mothers. Many used to pick flowers from the verges along the way to leave in the church or hand to their mothers when they got home.
But it was American social activist Anna Jarvis (1864-1948) from Philadelphia who lobbied the government for an official day to honour mothers in the US, and is regarded as the "Mother of Mother's Day". She dedicated her life to the cause after swearing she would do so after her mother's death.
However, over the years Jarvis became increasingly concerned at the commercialisation of the day, saying "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit." She also didn't like the selling of flowers and the use of greetings cards which she described as "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write".
The day took off in Britain when vicar's daughter Constance Smith was inspired by a 1913 newspaper report of Jarvis' campaign and began a push for the day to be officially marked in England.
Smith, of Coddington, Nottinghamshire, founded the Mothering Sunday Movement and even wrote a booklet The Revival of Mothering Sunday in 1920. Interestingly, neither Smith nor Jarvis became mother’s themselves.
By 1938 Mothering Sunday had become a popular celebration with Boy Scouts, Girl Guides and various parishes across Britain marking the day and communities adopting the imported traditions of American and Canadian soldiers during the war.
By the 1950s it was being celebrated throughout Britain and businesses realised the commercial opportunities.
Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day?
When you say 'Mother’s Day' you're actually referring to the American version, although the term is widely used in Britain too. In the US, Mother's Day falls on Sunday, May 14 this year.
The French celebrate Mother's Day on the last Sunday in May, where a family dinner is the norm, and traditionally the mother being honoured is presented with a cake that looks like a bouquet of flowers.
Mother’s Day in Spain is celebrated on December 8th. Spaniards pay tribute not only to their own mothers on this day, but also to the Virgin Mary. The day includes religious celebrations across the country.
I want to take this opportunity to wish all Mums today a wonderful safe and happy day....I always think more about my Mum on this day and what a wonderful and special lady she was!!!
I did Skype my family today and wished them a happy day!!
I did not know what these folks were..now I do!!!!
Millennials, also known as Generation Y or the Net Generation, are the demographic cohort that directly follows Generation X.
What, exactly, is the Millennial generation?
The term Millennials is usually considered to apply to individuals who reached adulthood around the turn of the 21st century. The precise delineation varies from one source to another, however. Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of the 1991 book Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069, are often credited with coining the term. Howe and Strauss define the Millennial cohort as consisting of individuals born between 1982 and 2004.
Other proposed dates for Millennials:
- According to Iconoclast, a consumer research firm, the first Millennials were born in 1978.
- Newsweek magazine reported that the Millennial generation was born between 1977 and 1994.
- In separate articles, the New York Times pegged the Millennials at 1976-1990 and 1978-1998.
- A Time magazine article placed the Millennials at 1980-2000.
Overall, the earliest proposed birthdate for Millennials is 1976 and the latest 2004. Given that a familial generation in developed nations lies somewhere between 25 and 30 years, we might reasonably consider those the start and end points.
There is a great deal of variation from one individual to another within any generational cohort. Nevertheless, the particular environment for any generation affects those individuals in ways that are observable as broad tendencies. This definition of the term discusses those reported tendencies for Millennials in the workplace, Millennials and technology, Millennials and culture.
A snapshot of Millennials, according to their press:
Millennials grew up in an electronics-filled and increasingly online and socially-networked world. They are the generation that has received the most marketing attention. As the most ethnically diverse generation, Millennials tend to be tolerant of difference. Having been raised under the mantra "follow your dreams" and being told they were special, they tend to be confident. While largely a positive trait, the Millennial generation’s confidence has been argued to spill over into the realms of entitlement and narcissism. They are often seen as slightly more optimistic about the future of America than other generations -- despite the fact that they are the first generation since the Silent Generation that is expected to be less economically successful than their parents.
One reported result of Millennial optimism is entering into adulthood with unrealistic expectations, which sometimes leads to disillusionment. Many early Millennials went through post-secondary education only to find themselves employed in unrelated fields or underemployed and job hopping more frequently than previous generations. Their expectations may have resulted from the very encouraging, involved and almost ever-present group of parents that became known as helicopter parents.
Millennial statistics (Source: Pew Research):
- 50 percent of Millennials consider themselves politically unaffiliated.
- 29 percent consider themselves religiously unaffiliated.
- They have the highest average number of Facebook friends, with an average of 250 friends vs. Generations X's 200.
- 55 percent have posted a selfie or more to social media sites versus 20 percent of Generation X.
- 8 percent of Millennials claim to have sexted, whereas 30 percent claim to have received sexts.
- They send a median of 50 texts a day.
- As of 2012, only 19 percent of Millennials said that, generally, others can be trusted.
- There are about 76 million Millennials in the United States (based on research using the years 1978-2000).
- Millennials are the last generation born in the 20th century.
- Twenty percent have at least one immigrant parent.
- Sam sent me this today it was taken at my brother's church you see acting silly runs in the family!!!
Malc is on the right!!!!
Yashi Kochi!!!
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