International History and Tradition
In most countries, Mother's Day is a recent observance derived from the holiday as it has evolved in the United States. When it was adopted by other countries and cultures, it was given different meanings, associated with different events (religious, historical or legendary), and celebrated on a different date or dates.
Some countries already had existing celebrations honoring motherhood, and their celebrations have adopted several external characteristics from the American holiday, such as giving carnations and other presents to one's mother.
The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture.
Read more about this topic: Mother's Day
Famous quotes containing the words history and/or tradition:
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“And hereby hangs a moral highly applicable to our own trustee-ridden universities, if to nothing else. If we really wanted liberty of speech and thought, we could probably get it—Spain fifty years ago certainly had a longer tradition of despotism than has the United States—but do we want it? In these years we will see.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)