Here are some basic facts about the origins of Mother’s Day, including some lesser known facts about Mother's Day traditions, and other remarkable statistics!
The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honour of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. Honey cakes and drinks were brought to the Goddess at dawn…much like our, more modern, breakfast in bed!
According to the Flowers & Plants Association, there were a whopping 3.7 million mixed bouquets bought for last Mothers' Day! In addition, 394,000 bunches of roses were bought, 294,000 bunches of tulips, 293,000 bunches of freesia and 93,000 foliage plants.
35% of adults buy flowers for their mums (or for their children to give to their mothers) on Mothers' Day.
Mothers' Day is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech. Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Slovak, Republic, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad, Turkey, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
Only about 11 percent of women end their childbearing years with four or more children, compared with 36 percent in 1976. This has something to do with the cost of child-rearing today, as well as more women working and so not remaining at home to raise children.
In America the flowers you buy were probably grown in California or Colombia. California was the leading provider of cut flowers in 2001, alone accounting for more than two-thirds of the nation's total domestic production ($292 million out of $424 million). Meanwhile, the value of U.S. imports of cut flowers from Colombia, the leading foreign supplier to the United States, during 2002 was $289 million
The traditional US Mother's Day flower is a carnation, either pink carnations given to mothers to represent love for them, or white carnations worn in respect for those mothers who are no longer living.
In Serbia, Mother's Day is called "Materice", and it is observed two weeks before Christmas. On "Materice" boys and girls tiptoe into their mother's bedroom very early in the morning and tie her up. When she awakens, she is surprised to find herself all tied up, and she begs the children to untie her, promising to give them little gifts which she has hidden under her pillow.
The youngest mother whose history is authenticated is Lina Medina, who delivered a 6½-pound boy by cesarean section in Lima, Peru in 1939, at an age of 5 years and 7 months. The child was raised as her brother and only discovered that Lina was his mother when he was 10. Conversely the oldest known birth mother in the world currently is Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara of Spain who gave delivered twins at the age of 66 in 2006.
The modern world record for giving birth is held by Leontina Albina from San Antonio, Chile. Leontina claims to be the mother of 64 children, of which only 55 of them are documented. She is listed in the 1999 Guinness World Records but dropped from later editions. One wonders if she receives cards and flowers from them all?!
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