Mother Day (...+ some JOKES)

MOTHER'S DAY:

The majority of countries that celebrate Mothers Day do so on the second Sunday of May. Whereas, in Egypt and most of Arab countries, we celebrate Mother Day on the 21st of March, to commemorate the first day of the spring.
On this day, it is common for mothers to be lavished with presents and special attention from their families, friends and the loved ones. But it hasn't always been this way.
Only recently called the Mothers day, the traditional practice of honoring Motherhood is rooted in ancient time. Societies tended to celebrate Goddesses and symbols rather than actual Mothers. In fact, the personal, human touch to Mothers day is relatively new trend. The maternal object of adoration ranged from female deities to the Christian Churches itself. Only in the past few centuries did celebrations of Motherhood develop a particularly human focus.

Goddess Isis – Early Egyptian Roots
One of the earliest historical records of society celebrating a Mother deity can be found among ancient Egyptians, who held an annual festival to honor the goddess Isis, who was commonly regarded as the Mother of pharaohs. Her head typically crowned by a pair of bull horns enclosing a burning sun orb. She is most often depicted sitting on a throne.
So the story goes, after Isis brother/husband Osiris was slain and dismembered in 13 pieces by their jealous brother Seth, Isis re-assembled Osiris and gave birth to Horus, whom she was forced to hide for fear that he would be slaughtered by Seth. Hours grew up and defeated Seth, and then became the first ruler of a unified Egypt. Thus Isis earned her stature as the Mother of the pharaohs.

Cybele – Ancient Roman Celebration
The festival of Isis was also celebrated by the Romans, who used the event to remember an important battle and mark the beginning of winter. Despite being a foreign goddess, Isis held a place at Roman temple, and mostly-female dancers, musicians and singers, regaled her festival, which lasted three days.
Yet the Roman root of Mothers Day is, perhaps, more precisely found in the celebration of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, or Magana Mater (Great Mother).
Cybele stems from the Greek Goddess Rhea, who was the Mother of most of the major deities including Zeus. Rhea was celebrated as a mother of goddess.
The Roman celebration of Magna Mater fell between March 15 and March 22, just around the same time as the Greek festival honor of Rhea. Referred to as Hilaria, games were held in honor of the Mother of gods. Also customary was a parade through the streets with a statue of goddess carried at the head, followed by a display of arts and crafts.

From "Weekly" newspaper by Alalam alyoum

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