Mother’s Day: Problematic or more meaningful than ever?

By Chrissie Noordally
Translated by Richard Peters

 

It’s my turn to post something on our blog, and Mother’s Day, which in Germany is celebrated on 8 May, seems like a suitable topic. I have a mother and am now a mum of two myself. Surely I’ll be able to think of something that readers can relate to! For example, I am of the completely objective and disinterested opinion that we should all be infinitely grateful to mothers: despite countless sleepless nights, mums are always cleaning up piles of toys, ironing away mountains of laundry that reach the ceiling, and generally doing everything in their power to ensure that their children are happy and grow up to be responsible people. Now that I’m experiencing for myself what being a mother actually means, I think it’s only fair that this one day of the year should be set aside to celebrate mothers; after all, apart from Father’s Day, which is celebrated for the same reasons, it’s very much “Children’s Day” on all the other days.

In the course of my research on this topic, however, and contrary to my expectations, I came across critical voices arguing that Mother’s Day is no longer in keeping with the times because it reduces women to the role of mother. And although the abolition of conservative gender stereotypes is usually something I can get behind, in this case I was puzzled: How could anyone have a problem with Mother’s Day? Is this accusation justified here? To find some answers, it’s worth taking a brief look at the history of Mother’s Day – especially from my German standpoint.

The first Mother’s Day was declared in the United States on 12 May 1907 by Anna Maria Jarvis at a memorial service for her mother, and she went on to commemorate this every year from then on. This tradition quickly became so popular that as early as 1909, all but one of the country’s then 46 constituent states celebrated Mother’s Day. In 1914, Congress officially decided that it would be observed on the second Sunday in May, and it has been celebrated throughout the United States ever since. Anna Maria Jarvis, however, deplored the increasing commercialisation of “Mother’s Day” and tried in vain to prevent it in court.

In 1923, the tradition found its way to Germany on the initiative of the “Association of German Flower Shop Owners”; the day soon proved to be a commercial success in this country as well.

In 1933, the National Socialists gave Mother’s Day a higher, but distorted, status, using it for propaganda purposes: on the “Day of Remembrance and Honour of German Mothers” they celebrated women who had achieved outstanding feats of childbearing, giving them decorations such as the Cross of Honour of the German Mother.

After the Second World War, Mother’s Day was abolished as an official holiday in Germany, but it is still celebrated here today – as it is in over 40 countries worldwide.

And I for one think it should stay that way – despite or perhaps even because of our history.

Because mothers continue to exist, and many accomplish great things every day. But on Mother’s Day, we should also take a moment to reflect on the momentous nature of our role as parents (and as a society). Our mission is to educate children, cultivate their social skills, and mould them into empathetic, open-minded, tolerant people, with a view to creating a world in which all people can live equally and freely – a vision that right now is sadly more urgent than ever.