Mother's Day is a holiday to thank mothers. Modern Mother's Day originated in the United States and falls on the second Sunday of May each year. Mothers usually receive gifts on this day, and carnations are considered as flowers dedicated to mothers. In China, the mother flower is Xuancao, also known as Forget Worry Grass.

Origin of Festivals
Mother's Day originated in the United States, initiated by Anna Jarvis, a Philadelphia native who remained unmarried and childless throughout her life. On May 9, 1906, Anna Jarvis' mother passed away and she was deeply saddened. On the anniversary of his mother's death the following year, Jarvis organized activities to commemorate her and encouraged others to express their gratitude to their loving mothers in a similar way.
Jarvis wrote a letter to Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia, requesting a special memorial service for her mother. Her mother served the Sunday school of this church for over 20 years before her death. In 1908, the church declared Jarvis' mother's death day - the second Sunday of May - as Mother's Day. Jarvis also organized a Mother's Day committee and began large-scale promotion, calling for Mother's Day to be designated as a statutory holiday.
Her appeal received a warm response. On May 10, 1913, the United States House of Representatives and Senate passed a resolution, signed by President Wilson, to designate the second Sunday of May each year as Mother's Day. This measure prompted countries around the world to follow suit, and by 1948, when Jarvis thanked him, 43 countries had established Mother's Day.
domestic development
Introduction and popularity
Mother's Day only entered mainland China after it became popular in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Precious jewelry, carnations symbolizing maternal love, specially made heart-shaped desserts, and exquisite handmade greeting cards have become gifts of love for mothers.
In the 1980s, Mother's Day gradually gained acceptance among the people in mainland China. Starting from 1988, some cities in southern China, such as Guangzhou, began to hold Mother's Day celebrations and included the selection of "good mothers" as one of the contents.
At the end of the 20th century, with China's increasing integration with the international community, Mother's Day has become increasingly popular in Chinese Mainland. More and more people have begun to accept the concept of Mother's Day. On the second Sunday of May every year, Chinese people and people from other countries all over the world together express their gratitude to their mothers in various ways. Of course, Chinese Mother's Day is more Chinese. Chinese people express their deep kinship in their own way. On Mother's Day, people will give their mothers flowers, cakes, hand cooked meals and other gifts. Chinese children who have been filial to their parents since childhood will try to cook, wash their faces, apply makeup, play music, and draw pictures for their mothers to celebrate the festival happily. On this day, people not only show filial piety to their biological mothers, but also repay their family affection to more mothers through charitable donations and volunteer services.
On Mother's Day, Chinese mothers hold cooking competitions, fashion shows, and other activities to celebrate their holiday. Various activities will be held in different regions, such as organizing mother tours and selecting outstanding mothers.
According to the data available on the Internet, Mother's Day first appeared in a report on Sina Sports in 2004, which said that for the first time in his life, an American sports star did not celebrate Mother's Day beside his mother. Finally, the sports star comforted his mother with the victory of the basketball game. Filial piety is a fine tradition in China, and this article has moved Chinese netizens. Since then, Mother's Day in the United States has taken root in Chinese media, and articles about Mother's Day in the United States have been increasing year by year.
Chinese Mother's Day
In 2004, Li Hanqiu, the president of the Chinese Mother's Day Promotion Association, proposed the establishment of Chinese Mother's Day.
On November 13, 2006, Li Hanqiu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), proposed to set up a Chinese Mother's Day under the title of "Creating a Chinese Mother's Day", and proposed that the mother of Mencius could be the image representative of China's Mother's Day.
In December 2006, four core initiators of Mother's Day, including the Cultural Committee of the Chinese Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, the Zoucheng Municipal Party Committee and Government, the Beijing Oriental Moral Research Institute, and the Shijiazhuang Primary and Secondary School Students' Extracurricular Comprehensive Practice Activity Base, officially established the "Chinese Mother's Day Promotion Association". They decided to designate the second day of the fourth lunar month, which is the day when Mencius was born, as Chinese Mother's Day and held a series of celebration activities on the occasion of the first Chinese Mother's Day.
On December 13, 2007, the founding ceremony and first plenary session of the Mother's Day Promotion Association were held in Zoucheng City, Shandong Province, the hometown of Mencius. At the meeting, a proposal titled "Creating Chinese Mother's Day" was issued. The full text is as follows: Who in the world does not have a mother? Who in the world is not loved by a mother? Who in the world doesn't love their mother? Maternal love, loving mothers, is human nature, the starting point and cornerstone of love, and the initial source of building a harmonious society. Designing a Chinese Mother's Day that allows parents' hearts to be highlighted and recognized with care, and children's hearts to be awakened and expressed delicately, should be put on the agenda in building a harmonious society today. This is a great platform for inheriting Chinese virtues, strengthening the education of minors, improving the quality of motherhood, promoting family harmony, cultivating the love and moral standards of the whole society.
The hometown of Mencius, Zoucheng City, Shandong Province, has a tradition of commemorating Mencius' birthday that has been passed down through generations, and there is corresponding evidence in documents such as the Ming Wanli edition of "Sanqian Zhi". Mencius' birthday is on the second day of the fourth lunar month. It is more appropriate to designate this day as Chinese Mother's Day. To promote the establishment and development of Mother's Day in China, scholars and social workers from all over the country voluntarily form the "Mother's Day Promotion Association" and carry out work in accordance with the law.
In 2016, Chinese Mother's Day and Western Mother's Day coincidentally overlapped.
Allusions and legends
Mencius' mother moved her home three times to provide a better educational environment for her son.
Mencius' mother moved multiple times in order to choose a good environment to educate her children. To prevent him from learning badly.
Source: Liu Xiang's "Biography of Lienv, Volume 1, Mother's Etiquette" from the Western Han Dynasty: "Mengzi was born with a virtuous character and was taught by his loving mother to move three times when he was young
The Legend of Wang'er Mountain in Yingkou
On the southern plain of Liaoning Province, there is an ancient city that dates back over 2000 years - the Xiongyue City in Bayuquan. In the lush green fruit forest to the east of Xiongyue City, there is a mountain with a solitary peak protruding. There is a blue brick ancient pagoda on the mountaintop, which looks like a kind mother from afar. Looking into the distance, I hope my child will return early. This mountain is called Wang'er Mountain.
Legend has it that a long time ago, the outskirts of Xiongyue were a beach. There is a poor family by the seaside, consisting only of a mother and son who rely on each other for survival. The mother worked hard to support her son's education, and the son was determined to study hard to become successful and repay his mother's kindness. Then the son took a sea boat to Beijing to take the exam. Many years have passed and there has been no news of my son. My mother is very anxious, so she goes to the beach every day to look out. One year, two years, three years... the mother's hair turned white, but her son's figure was nowhere to be seen. Mother repeatedly called out to the sea, 'Child, come back! Mother misses you, misses you...' The elderly mother fell down and turned into a stone statue, without expecting her son to return.
In fact, her son unfortunately capsized and fell into the sea on his way to Beijing to take the exam, and died. The heavens were moved by the great maternal love, and where the mother stood looking forward to her child, a towering mountain suddenly stood tall; The earth was moved by the great maternal love, and the tears shed by the mother turned into underground hot springs, nourishing countless red and gorgeous apples; The villagers were moved by the great motherly love and called the towering Duxiu Peak "Wang'er Mountain". They built a Mother of Mercy Pagoda at the top of the mountain and a Mother of Mercy Pavilion at the bottom, so that future generations could remember their mother's ordinary yet great kindness.
With development, the people of Bayuquan still retain the ancient tradition of respecting and loving their mothers. On Mother's Day in May every year, various activities to respect and love mothers are carried out. Many people still erect monuments and inscriptions for their mothers in the Compassionate Mother Pavilion to express their respect for their mothers.
historical significance
Festivals are the crystallization and carrier of national culture. A large part of cultural memory is the memory of festivals. Years later, many past events have been forgotten, but the scenes of the festival are still vivid in my memory. At the same time, festivals have the characteristics of wide coverage, continuous repetition, and educational entertainment, which have a profound impact on people. Therefore, major human relations festivals are crucial for cultivating national spirit and cohesion. The true Mother's Day should be deeply rooted in the heart, to appreciate the love of a mother. On Mother's Day in China, we advocate for maternal love and education; On the one hand, it advocates loving mothers and filial piety. On the other hand, parents give their children life and have an instinctive selfless love for them. The establishment of Chinese Mother's Day is to provide a festival where the love of parents from all over the world can be demonstrated and recognized seriously; Let the filial piety of children all over the world be awakened and delicately expressed on a festival.
Traditional Chinese festivals are generally comprehensive and lack prominent human relations themed festivals, such as Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, etc. And modern society also has a need to express human emotions. Chinese traditional culture is gradually moving towards self-awareness, confidence, and self-improvement, but the road is still far away and requires more knowledgeable people to work together and make continuous efforts.
The Chinese nation has a long and splendid ethical civilization, and attaches great importance to the relationship between parents and children and the heart of benevolence. It has nurtured many great and influential images of mothers. We should have our own Chinese Mother's Day, a Chinese Mother's Day full of excellent cultural connotations and national spirit of the Chinese nation, rather than a foreign Mother's Day, which is necessary for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Looking back at the history of the Chinese nation, the mother of Mencius, Lady Su, is the most prominent image of a virtuous Chinese mother. After Mencius lost her father at the age of three, she took full responsibility for raising him. The stories of "Meng Mu's Three Moves" and "Cutting Off the Machine to Teach Her Son" have been passed down for more than two thousand years. From the external environment in which children grow up to the internal laws of learning, she has noticed them and finally made them great achievements. She herself has become a model mother for educating her children, known as the "mother who teaches one person", and is still passed down as an exemplary figure in modern times. Meng Mu can be regarded as an image representative of Chinese Mother's Day, to demonstrate the greatness and great maternal love of mothers, inspire generations of mothers, and inspire love and filial piety as a son of man.
Having children is the beginning of being a mother. The Chinese Mother's Day, which is celebrated under the banner of Mother Meng, is chosen on the day when Mother Meng gave birth to Mencius, because it is on this day that she becomes Mother Meng. Some children nowadays only think about their own happiness on their birthdays, while in traditional virtues, birthdays should be grateful for their mothers' kindness, so birthdays are called "difficult days for mothers" or simply "difficult days for mothers". Designating Mencius' birthday as Mother's Day, represented by the image of his mother, means that when celebrating one's own birthday, one should be grateful for their mother's kindness and love.