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Global: Happy Mother's Day!

· Written by Jillian C. York

Categories: East Asia, Latin America, North America, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe, Denmark, Guatemala, India, Philippines, U.S.A., Uganda, Arts & Culture, History

Flowers in Xela, Guatemala by Erik++ on Flickr [1]

Flowers in Xela, Guatemala by Erik++ on Flickr

If one thing is true of all humankind, it is this: we all have mothers. And in many parts of the world, it is customary to celebrate our mothers with a special day: Mother's Day [2]. Although the date varies, many countries are celebrating today, the second Sunday of May.

From Denmark to Dominica, Peru to Pakistan, the United States to Uganda, bloggers of all ages are calling, visiting, or otherwise honoring their mothers today.

One such blogger is Santa Cruz Barillas of the Guatemalan province of Huehuetenango [3], who writes [4] of a traditional celebration of Mother's Day:

Feliz día de la Madre. Como ya es tradicional en nuestro querido municipio, el día de hoy 10 de mayo, desde las 2 de la mañana han salido diferentes grupos de organizaciones como iglesias, la Municipalidad y grupos de jóvenes a darle Serenata a las madrecitas de todas las zonas.

Happy Mother's Day! As is now the tradition in our lovely village, on the 10th of May, starting at two in the morning, many groups and organizations like churches, the local government, and groups of youth gather together and sing a serenade for all the moms of the whole area.

Mahesh, from Bangalore, India, is also blogging about today's holiday. Of mothers, he writes [5]:

In every culture Mother plays the most important role in bringing up kids. But at times I do feel in urban India children [i.e. grown ups] are slowly drifting away from parents :-( We will pay a heavy price for this sin down the road. It would be best we thank our Mothers (and Fathers) on a daily basis instead of on a ‘yearly basis’.

The blogger behind American blog “Plan A” is a mother herself, and is celebrating two special lives today: those of the mothers of her two adopted children from Uganda. The blogger writes [6]:

Did you know ~ Mother’s Day is not just an American holiday but is celebrated in many other countries across the globe, including Uganda. Today, I am very aware that there are two women out there who birthed two little boys back in 2006 and 2007. There is no way for them to know what happened to the sons they last saw so long ago. Since maternal death is a primary reason for children becoming orphans in the first place it is very likely that they are no longer living. But, even though we will never know their stories – today I am deeply grateful for the two African women who birthed my two youngest children.

The Filipina Mom in Denmark marks the occasion [7] with this short and sweet message:

Because Moms were once daughters and without our children we wouldn’t be mothers! Happy Mothers Day (2009) !

Finally, Manfred Elfstrom, blogging for Labor is Not a Commodity, takes the time to remind [8] us to appreciate all women, and not just our own mothers:

With Mother’s Day and the less-well-known World Fair Trade Day approaching, it’s worth thinking about a sector that employs a large number of women and is singularly unfair. This is the electronics industry—not the industry of Silicon Valley creative types on bean bag chairs, but the industry that makes the actual MP3 players and laptops we use. While some jobs in the sector are skilled and pay reasonable wages, many require long days of repetitive, minute tasks, tasks that cramp backs and cause workers’ eyesight to wear out at an early age, all for low pay, sometimes lower than the local minimum wage.