Mother's Day was celebrated in the country like elsewhere in the world here on Sunday to pay tributes to mothers who are instrumental to shaping the life of every individual. The children on the day presented gifts, greeting cards, bouquets, to thank their mothers for all that they have done for them.
Mother's Day was originally conceived by an American social activist Julia Ward Howe in 1872 during the American Civil War with a call to unite women against war. In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia (US), began a campaign to establish national Mother's Day.
Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day.
Her efforts prove successful as by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state.
President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year the 2nd Sunday of May. However, it is celebrated on various days of the year in different countries because they have a number of different origins.
One school of thought claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. In most countries, it is a new concept copied from western civilisation.
In many African countries, Mother's Day has its origins in copying the British concept while in most of East Asia, it is a heavily marketed and commercialised idea copied straight from Mother's Day in the USA.
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day holiday, commercialisation of the US holiday became so rampant that Ana Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful US holidays.
Various television channels also chalked out numerous programmes on the occasion of Mother's Day.
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