1. Mother’s Day Researched via: http://wikipedia.org http://wikipedia.org Katharine Sloan 05/06/10

2. Historical Antecedents: This day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March to 18 March). In Europe there were several long standing traditions where a specific Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers such as Mothering Sunday. Mothering Sunday celebrations are part of the liturgical calendar in several Christian denominations, including Anglicans, and in the Catholic calendar is marked as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honor the Virgin Mary and your "mother" church (the main church of the area). Historians think that children who served in houses were given a day off on that date so they could visit their families. The children would pick wild flowers along the way to place them on the church or to give them to their mothers. International Women's Day was celebrated for the first time in 28 February 1909, in the US, by which time Anna Jarvis had already begun her national campaign in the US. It is now celebrated in many countries on March 8. The "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.

3. Dates Around the World: February 14 - Norway March 14 - Ireland, Nigeria, United Kingdom March 3 - Georgia March 8 - Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Laos, Macedonia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Ukraine. The date coincides with the International Women's Day. March 21 (first day of spring) - Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestinian Territories, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Sudan, Saudi Arabia March 25 - Slovenia April 7 - Armenia May 2 (first Sunday in May) - Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain May 8 - South Korea, Albania (Parents' Day) May 10 - Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Slovakia, South Africa, St. Lucia, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Venezuela, Zimbabwe. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico May 30 (last Sunday in May) - Algeria, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mauritius, Morocco, Sweden, Tunisia, France(France is the last Sunday in May except if it coincides with Pentecost day [50th day after lent], in which case it is shifted to the first Sunday in June) May 26 - Poland May 27 - Bolivia May 30 - Nicaragua June 13 (second Sunday in June) - Luxembourg June 27 (last Sunday in June) - Kenya August 12 - Thailand (Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara's birthday) August 15 - Costa Rica, Antwerp (Belgium) October 11 (second Monday in October) - Malawi October 14 - Belarus October 17 (third Sunday in October) - Argentina November 28 (last Sunday in November) - Russia December 8 - Panama December 22 - Indonesia

4. Why do we celebrate the Mother’s Day? We celebrate Mother’s day to honor and show appreciation to our moms for giving birth to us and raising us.

5. My Message to my mom… Ummm… Don’t really have nothing to say.. So, um…. Yea…

6. Mom, Thank you for… Absolutely, positively!!!.... Nothing.