The Origins of Mother's Day
Mother's Day has its origin in -- surprise, surprise -- paganism and Roman Catholicism. The Greeks had a
spring festival to the goddess Rhea, the mother of the gods, and the Romans had a spring festival to the
goddess Cybele, the mother of the gods. The pagans in the British Isles had their celebration to the
goddess Brigid. Then come the Roman Catholics, always looking out for a good pagan holiday to
celebrate in a "Christian" way so as to draw in the pagans. Can you guess to whom this holiday was
dedicated? Hmmm ... let me think now ... the pagans had the mother of the gods ... and the Catholics
had the mother ... of God! Yep, you got it -- the Great Whore decided to have a day to honor Mary, the
mother of God, around the same time all the pagans were celebrating their mother of gods days. Also
incorporated into this was honor to the Mother Church, where people brought gifts to the church where
they were baptized. And, if that weren't enough, the Celtic Catholics had their celebration to St. Brigid ...
hey, wait a minute! That name Brigid sounds so familiar ... In England, this day to honor Mary and the
Mother Church (and maybe Brigid the goddess or Brigid the saint) was changed to Mothering Sunday
honor all mothers, not just Mary (how nice). The gifts were then given to the human mothers and not
Mama Church, mother of harlots. This carried over into the United States and was declared an official
holiday in 1914.
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