Today, the whole world is celebrating Mother’s Day by showering the maternal figures in their lives with treats, love, and affection. While this is a good practice, did you know that the Philippines is celebrating seven months early?
That’s right, because Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in the Philippines are celebrated on the first Monday of December. Traditionally, Filipinos have celebrated these occasions in December since the 1920’s.
According to a feature by the Philippine News Agency:
Mother’s Day in the Philippines used to be celebrated on the first Monday of December. On this day, school children placed pink cadena de amor, others say carnations, on their chests. Schoolchildren who no longer have mothers placed white cadena de amor on their chests. Appropriate programs were held all over the country in honor of mothers and husbands gave gifts to their wives. What a wonderful way of honoring the wonderful people who gave birth to the children of the world!
It was said that in 1921, the Ilocos Norte Federation of Women’s Clubs appealed to then American Governor-General Charles Yeater to declare the first Monday of December as Mother’s Day to honor these fabulous women who brought forth God’s children into this world.
Yeater responded by issuing Circular No. 33, which designates the first Monday of every December as Mother’s Day. The then Bureau of Education was asked to take charge of the national celebration.
When the Philippine Commonwealth Government was established, President Manuel L. Quezon issued a presidential proclamation to cement this practice. This was followed by then President Ferdinand Marcos’s Presidential Proclamation No. 2037 in 1980, proclaiming the same thing.
It was only moved to the first Monday of May in then President Corazon Aquino’s term, when she issued Proclamation No. 266.
However, then President Joseph Ejercito Estrada amended Aquino’s proclamation with Proclamation No. 58, s. 1998, moving the celebration back to the first Monday of December.
At the end of the day, these proclamations and dates don’t matter. We should all celebrate and be thankful for our parents every day of the year.
Do you agree? Share your thoughts below!
