A day celebrating Motherhood
Mothers’ Day is celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm in over 46 countries across the globe. Though Mothers’ Day celebrations take place at different times around the world, what is remarkably the same are the feelings with which people celebrate Mothers’ Day. This is so because mothers are as caring in the East as they are in the West. The difference between mothers from one part of the world to the other simply does not exist and so are the feelings of children.
All over the world people love to celebrate Mothers Day with their mothers and shower love on them. In many countries, special prayer services are held in churches in honor of mothers. But the most common method of celebrating Mothers’ Day is to treat mothers with cards, gifts or even breakfast in bed. A special day that allows children to express their love and appreciation for the most special woman in their lives.
Here we have captured some stories shared by two daughters from our Localhood community.
A Hong Konger’s mother-daughter bond: Winnie Tse
I believe that the significance of Mother's Day for me is having a meal with the whole family. In the past, when my grandmother was here, the whole extended family would gather to spend this special day with her and bring her gifts, sometimes money in the form of lai see or gold jewellery. With the money, she would then spend it on buying dried sea cucumber and soaking it at home on her own (it involves a long process) and give to each family to make into double-broiled soup. In recent years, after my grandmother passed away, it became more of a casual affair and just having a meal with my mother and siblings. It’s more of a time to gather together when everyone’s so busy with their own families.
We always try to make the time. I remember last year was a difficult time to celebrate as I worked till 4 am on Mother’s Day and could only slip in a quick dinner with my family.
There are a few special efforts I make to show my mother what she means to me. I try to pay for the big dinners with extended family on my mom’s birthdays. She likes to invite her whole family with kids and helpers, so we usually book a room in a restaurant for around 30 people to attend.
My most memorable Mother’s Day was Celebrating with the extended family and my grandmother, some relatives came from Canada and we brought gifts for my grandmother. She was very excited and happy each time we celebrated with her. I guess these celebrations kept up her spirits and she continued to have a full head of mostly black hair into her 80s.
Getting my first mother’s day card from my son, Mitchell, was a memorable time too.
"Winnie and her mother, Shirley at a Dior event."
“Mitchell’s first mother’s day card. It says: Even ten little fingers can’t count how much I love you.”
“90th birthday celebration of grandmother “Popo” with the extended family”
An English daughter remembers: Rima
Mother’s Day for me signifies an opportunity to say thank you for all the wonderful things my Mother has done and continues to do for me. I’m English so we celebrated in March.
My Mum is several time zones away so celebrations these days involve a delivery of pastel scented flowers (her favourites) and FaceTime.
One special year I remember was when we made “perfume” from torn up rose petals and water was pretty memorable. Soggy petals look and smell pretty awful when they turn brown. Mum appeared delighted with our gift and was very calm about the descimation of her rose bushes in the pursuit of our craft.
And the beautiful part is knowing with absolute certainty that if we made her “perfume” again, she’d still be delighted.
We hope these touching reminiscences by these two daughters inspire you to go out and do something special to celebrate your own mothers. We leave you here with a few ideas that could help make her feel like a queen on this day dedicated to her.
Set aside all other plans, get the family together and go on a fun outing. Your mother will love it as she wants nothing more than having her family around her.
Give your mother the day off. Encourage everyone in the family to pitch in and let your mother sit back and relax. She deserves to be treated like a queen.
Treat your mothers with breakfast in bed. Allow their mothers to sleep till late in the morning while preparing her favourite breakfast.
Mother’s Day is about honouring all mothers. This Mother’s Day, help a mother in need by volunteering or donating to an organization that helps underprivileged mothers and children. The Women’s Foundation in Hong Kong https://twfhk.org/volunteer and Hands On HK https://www.handsonhongkong.org/our-impact are good places to start.