XiaoCao:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/AMANDA%7E1.YOU/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 oNotOptimizeForBrowser/> <![endif]--><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */@font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129023 0;}@font-face {font-family:"\@Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129023 0;} /* Style Definitions */p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}h2 {margin-right:0in; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:2; font-size:18.0pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; font-weight:bold;}h3 {margin-right:0in; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:3; font-size:13.5pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; font-weight:bold;}a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;}a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;}p {margin-right:0in; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";}span.editsection {mso-style-name:editsection;}span.mw-headline {mso-style-name:mw-headline;}span.mw-formatted-date {mso-style-name:mw-formatted-date;}@page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 153.0pt 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;}div.Section1 {page:Section1;}--></style> Happy Mother's Day!!!
Below is some information about the history of Mother's day that I copied from an article:
The modern Mother's Dayholiday was created by Anna Jarvis as a day for each family to honor its mother, and it's now celebrated on various days in many placesaround the world.
This holiday is relatively modern, being created at the start of the 20thcentury, and should not be confused with the early pagan and Christiantraditions honoring mothers, or with the 16th century celebration of MotheringSunday, which is also known as Mother's Day in the UK.
In most countries the Mother's Day celebration is a recent holiday derivedfrom the original US celebration. Exceptions are, for example, the MotheringSunday holiday in the UK.
In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sundayin May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's DayInternational Association.
"She was specific about thelocation of the apostrophe; it was to be a singular possessive, for each familyto honour their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers inthe world."
This is also the spelling used byU.S. President Woodrow Wilson in the law making official the holiday in theU.S., by the U.S. Congress on bills,and by other U.S. presidents on their declarations.
Common usage in English languagealso dictates that the ostensibly singular possessive "Mother's Day"is the preferred spelling.
Dates around the world
Mother's Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world."Mother's day" shows two primary results, the smaller one on thefourth Sunday in Lent,from the British tradition of Mothering Sunday (it is also called ladies dayand women's day), and the larger one on the second Sunday in May.
The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it ispotentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, itis a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by themedia as a taste of foreign culture.
International history and traditions
In most countries, Mother's Day is arecent observance derived from the holiday as it has evolved in North Americaand Europe. Many African countries adopted the idea of one Mother's Day fromthe British tradition, although there are many festivals and events celebratingmothers within the many diverse cultures on the African continent that longpre-date colonization. In Nepal and other hindu tradition, its called"Mata Tirtha Aunshi" or "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight".
Japan
Mother's Day in Japan was initiallycommemorated during the Shōwa period as the birthday of EmpressKōjun (mother of Emperor Akihito). Nowadays it is a marketedholiday, and people typically give flowers such as carnations and roses asgifts.
China
In China, Mother's Day is becomingmore popular, and carnations are a very popular gift and the most sold type offlower. In 1997 it was set as the day to help poor mothers,specially to remind people of the poor mothers on rural areas such as China'swest. In the People'sDaily, the Communist Party of China's journal, an article explained that"despite originating in the United States, people in China take theholiday with no hesitance because it goes in line with the country'straditional ethics -- respect to the elderly and filial piety to parents."
In recent years Communist Party ofChina's member Li Hanqiu began to advocate for the official adoption ofMother's Day in memory of Meng Mu, the mother of Mèng Zǐ, andformed a Non-governmental organization called ChineseMothers' Festival Promotion Society, with the support of 100 Confucianscholars and lecturers of ethics.They also ask to replace the Western gift of carnations with lilies, which, onancient times, were planted by Chinese mothers when children left home.It remains an unofficial festival, except in a small number of cities.
Greece
Mother's Day in Greece correspondsto the Eastern Orthodox feast day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.Since the Theotokos(The Mother of God) appears prominently in this feast as the one who broughtChrist to the Temple at Jerusalem, this feast is associated with mothers.
Iran
Celebrated on 20 Jumadaal-thani, the birthday anniversary of Fatima, Muhammad'sdaughter. It was changed after the Iranian revolution, the reason having beentheorized as trying to undercut feminist movements and promoting role modelsfor the traditional model of family. It was previously 25 Azaron Iranian calendar during the Shah era
United Kingdom and Ireland
In the UnitedKingdom and Ireland,MotheringSunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, exactly threeweeks before Easter Sunday (March 22 in 2009). It is believed tohave originated from the 16th century Christianpractice of visiting one's mother's church annually, which meant that mostmothers would be reunited with their children on this day. Most historiansbelieve that young apprentices and young women in servitude were released bytheir masters that weekend in order to visit their families.As a result of secularization, it is now principally used to showappreciation to one's mother, although it is still recognized in the historicalsense by some churches, with attention paid to Mary the mother of JesusChrist as well as the traditional concept 'MotherChurch'.
Mothering Sunday can fall at theearliest on 1 March(in years when Easter Day falls on 22 March)and at the latest on 4 April(when Easter Day falls on 25 April).
United States / Canada
The United States and Canadacelebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May.
Vietnam
Mother's Day in Vietnam is called LễVu-lan and celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunarcalendar. People with living mothers would be thankful, while people withdead mothers would pray for their souls.
Commercialization
Nine years after the first officialMother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that AnnaJarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and spentall her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuseof the celebration.
Later commercial and otherexploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Anna and she made hercriticisms explicitly known throughout her time. She criticized the practice of purchasing greetingcards, which she saw as a sign of being too lazy to write a personal letter.She was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting against thecommercialization of Mother's Day, and she finally said that she "wishedshe would have never started the day because it became so out of control...".
Mother's Day continues to this dayto be one of the most commercially-successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association,Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at arestaurant in the United States.
［此帖子已被 XiaoCao 在 2009-5-8 2:56:26 编辑过］
