adminsee how dear they are to you?
Does this therefore mean that those without, the Broke Soon After Pay (BSAP)-type, like this writer, do not understand what love is? Not that there is anything wrong with appreciating someone, but the moment something natural is commercialised, questions are bound to be asked.
Ask, ask, ask — we will continue asking.
Unfortunately, this is the situation Zimbabwe will witness tomorrow as the world marks Mothers Day, a special 24-hours children dedicate to honouring mothers for their efforts in giving them life, raising them and being their constant support and well-wishers.
No matter the circumstances of one’s birth, legitimate and illegitimate children literally fall over each other to do something for their mothers.
Sweet mother I no go forget you,
For dey suffer we you suffer for me yeah,
Sweet mother I no go forget you,
For dey suffer we you suffer for me yeah,
When I dey crry my mother go carry me,
She go say my pikin wetin you dey cry yeah yeah,
Stop stop! stop stop!! stop stop!!!
Make you no cry again oo,
When I wan sleep my mother go pet me,
She go lie me well-well for bed,
She go cover me cloth say make you sleep,
Sleep sleep my pikin oooo,
When I dey hungry my mom go run up and down
She dey find me somthing we I go chop
Sweet mother eeeeee..sweet mother oooo..eee
When I dey sick my mother go cry cry cry
She go say instead wey I go die make she die
She go beg God, God help me, God help me, my pikin oo
If I no sleep, my mother no go sleep
If I no chop, my mother no go chop
She no dey tire ooo
Sweet mother I no go forget dey suffer wey you suffer for me yeah yeah
Sweet mother eeeeeeeeeeee
Sweet mother oooo . . . eeeee, sang Prince Nico Mbarga in his classic rhumba song which acknowledges the good work done by mothers.
Words like “special”, “genuine” and “Godly” feature prominently on cards being sold in preparation for the day. As I commit pen to paper, countless gift shops and eateries have lined up specials to ensure children give their mothers a real treat on this day.
Car hiring firms are not to be outdone. They have unveiled special packages to ensure they ring cash from people desperate to pamper their mothers.
According to experts, the origin of Mother’s Day goes back to the era of ancient Greek and Romans.
But the roots of Mother’s Day history can also be traced in UK where a Mothering Sunday was celebrated much before the festival saw the light of the day in US. However, the celebration of the festival as it is seen today is a recent phenomenon and not even a hundred years old. Thanks to the hard work of the pioneering women of their times, Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis that the day came into existence.
Today the festival of Mothers Day is celebrated across 46 countries (though on different dates) and is a hugely popular affair. Millions of people across the globe take the day as an opportunity to honour their mothers.
The earliest history of Mothers Day dates back to the ancient annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to maternal goddesses.
The Greeks used the occasion to honour Rhea, wife of Cronus and the mother of many deities of Greek mythology.
Ancient Romans, too, celebrated a spring festival, called Hilaria dedicated to Cybele, a mother goddess. It may be noted that ceremonies in honour of Cybele began some 250 years before Christ was born.
The celebration made on the Ides of March by making offerings in the temple of Cybele lasted for three days and included parades, games and masquerades.
The celebrations were notorious enough that followers of Cybele were banished from Rome.
Early Christians celebrated a Mother’s Day of sorts during the festival on the fourth Sunday of Lent in honor of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. In England the holiday was expanded to include all mothers. It was then called Mothering Sunday.
The more recent history of Mothers Day dates back to 1600s in England. Here a Mothering Sunday was celebrated annually on the fourth Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter) to honor mothers. After a prayer service in church to honor Virgin Mary, children brought gifts and flowers to pay tribute to their own mothers. On the occasion, servants, apprentices and other employees staying away from their homes were encouraged by their employers to visit their mothers and honor them.
Traditionally children brought with them gifts and a special fruit cake or fruit-filled pastry called a simnel.
Yugoslavs and people in other nations have observed similar days.
Custom of celebrating Mothering Sunday died out almost completely by the 19th century. However, the day came to be celebrated again after World War II, when American servicemen brought the custom and commercial enterprises used it as an occasion for sales.
It is unfortunate to note that Ms Anna Jarvis, who devoted her life for the declaration of Mothers Day holiday, was deeply hurt to note the huge commercialisation of the day.
Gentle reader, it is not the import of this installment to discredit mothers, neither is it the writer’s aim to dissuade people from honouring their mothers. But the way some things are done raises more questions than answers. Countless cases of women seeking maintenance for the upkeep of their children through the courts of law attests to the fact that mothers play a significant role in moulding their children though the financial element is largely left for fathers.
The same courts are full of cases of children fighting their mothers over inheritance and choice of life partners after the collapse of their early marriages.
Some mothers have had to apply for protection orders to rein in their errant children who assault them both physically and emotionally, yet on days like Mothers Day, the same children want the world to view them as caring.
There are countless mothers who are detained at hospitals due to failure to pay for services rendered yet they have children who appear more prepared to buy them flowers at the expense of medical bills. It makes no sense to celebrate Mothers Day which comes once, yet your mother goes for the greater part of the year without proper food, clothes and a decent roof above her head.
Before taking your mother out for a treat this Mothers Day, assess whether she needs that once-in-a-year treat more than food on the table daily and proper medical care.
Shouting at your mother daily and wanting to mask that with a treat at a restaurant simply do not balance.
Inotambika mughetto.
Online Reporter