Epiphanies and memeage

[ihkelele]

I don't care for celebratory days unless they are intended to draw attention upon an underrated theme. So, all's well with AIDS days, water days, books days, and gay days and women's day and whatever other minority day. But "mother", "father" - what do these "days" mean?
Please tell me who's supposed to be celebrated today: someone who's conceived (

Comments

[kribu]

I don't really care much either way about Mothers' Day (apostrophe after the "s", as it's in plural in Estonian). I suppose it gets more attention here in general than it possibly would otherwise because it was one of those forbidden celebratory days in the Soviet times, as an outdated bourgeois thing. Soviet mothers had to make do with 8 March like all other women

[dickgloucester]

I hear you on teen!Snape!

[ihkelele]

LOL, to think I've just told Dicky the 8th March would be my day of choice, exactly for the reason that it doesn't involve motherhood but womanhood as in "let's remember where we come from, and the road that we still have to walk to become fully functional human beings

[kribu]

Well, 8 March was funny in a way. Like boys being made to bring girls flowers in elementary school on 7 March and all that. ;-)

And of course, it was a day off, which was always a good thing. Especially as it was a much nicer reason for a day off than 1 May (and the obligatory parades) or 9 May (and the obligatory parades) or 7 November (celebrating the Great Socialist October Revolution with the obligatory parades) and so on... :-D

We're so completely unreligious here (and always have been, to the great annoyance of our German owners and priests) that the religious aspects of motherhood have absolutely nothing to do with anything, really. So I don't dislike the concept - it's a nice way for most people to be reminded to do something nice for their mothers for a change (because let's be honest, we can talk about how we should all pay attention and show our love and care for our parents, if they so deserve, every day, but... people don't. Children don't. Adult children don't. Life's too busy, people are selfish, and so on

[ihkelele]

Oh my, I had no idea! I smile now, but I understand how intolerable such impositions must have been.
We, on the other hand, never had a holiday on 8th March, yet when I was a kid most public holidays were due to Catholic celebrations, such as Ascension, Corpus Domini, Assumption of Mary, All Saints, All Souls, Immaculate Conception, Epiphany and another dozen (not counting Christmas and Easter.)
No parading but processions, visits to certain sacred places, participation in funerals in school uniform etc. These weren't strictly obligatory, but the social blame and consequences for not attending made them compulsory (think that when I applied for my first regular job, employers still used to require 'good behaviour' declarations from marshals AND parsons, and a parish's judgement wouldn't be good if you didn't attend Mass and confessed regularly, especially in small towns - unthinkable in villages.)
Well, it has been said that totalitarian regimes have much in common with monotheistic countries :D