Happy Mother’s Day! Χαρούμένη Ημέρα της Μητέρας!
As most traditions go, follow them back to the beginning, and you’ll find Greece at the root. Mother’s Day is no different.
Mother’s Day is centuries old. In fact, this spring celebration began in Ancient Greece as the celebration of Rhea (Ῥέα), the Mother of the Gods.
As the myth is told, Kronos, Rhea’s husband, learned that he was to be conquered by his own children. Consequently, Kronos swallowed his children as soon as they were born, including Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia and Poseidon. But the Rhea devised a plan to save her sixth-born child, Zeus. Immediately after Zeus’ birth, Rhea wrapped a stone up in cloth. Kronos swallowed this stone, believing it to be Zeus, while Rhea hid Zeus away in Crete. Later, Zeus, the King of Gods, overthrew Kronos and forced him to expel the siblings. (Ironically, Zeus would swallow Metis, an unsuccessful effort to prevent the birth of Athena, the goddess of the arts and wisdom).
Compared to that legend, the rest of Mother’s Day history is much less dramatic. In England during the 1600’s, Christians celebrated a day to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. Later, calling it “Mothering Sunday,” the day was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent (the 40-day period leading up to Easter) and recognized all the mothers of England.
In the U.S. in 1872, Julia Ward Howe (author of the Battle hymn of the Republic) proposed the holiday as a day of peace. And it wasn’t until 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday of May, Mother’s Day, a national holiday.
In Greece, Mother’s day is also the second Sunday of May.
Happy Mother’s Day! Χαρούμένη Ημέρα της Μητέρας!