Mother's Day

====Mexico====
{{See also|Public holidays in Mexico#Festivities}}
In [[Mexico]], the government of [[Álvaro Obregón]] imported the Mother's Day holiday from the US in 1922, and the newspaper ''[[Excélsior]]'' held a massive promotional campaign for the holiday that year.<ref name="newcomer 133">Newcomer, p. 133</ref> The conservative government tried to use the holiday to promote a more conservative role for mothers in families, but that perspective was criticized by the socialists as promoting an unrealistic image of a woman who was not good for much more than breeding.<ref name="newcomer 133"/>

In the mid-1930s, the leftist government of [[Lázaro Cárdenas]] promoted the holiday as a "patriotic festival". The Cárdenas government tried to use the holiday as a vehicle for various efforts: to stress the importance of families as the basis for national development; to benefit from the loyalty that Mexicans felt towards their mothers; to introduce new morals to Mexican women; and to reduce the influence that the church and the Catholic right exerted over women.<ref name="sherman"/> The government sponsored the holiday in the schools.<ref name="sherman"/> However, ignoring the strict guidelines from the government, theatre plays were filled with religious icons and themes. Consequently, the "national celebrations" became "religious fiestas" despite the efforts of the government.<ref name="sherman">Sherman, p. 44</ref>

Soledad Orozco García, the wife of President [[Manuel Ávila Camacho]], promoted the holiday during the 1940s, resulting in an important state-sponsored celebration.<ref name="newcomer 133–134"/> The 1942 celebration lasted a full week and included an announcement that all women could reclaim their pawned sewing machines from the [[Nacional Monte de Piedad|Monte de Piedad]] at no cost.<ref name="newcomer 133–134">Newcomer, pp. 133–134</ref>

Due to Orozco's promotion, the Catholic [[National Synarchist Union]] (UNS) took heed of the holiday around 1941.<ref name="newcomer 134">Newcomer, p. 134</ref> Shop-owner members of the Party of the Mexican Revolution (now the [[Institutional Revolutionary Party]]) observed a custom allowing women from humble classes to pick a free Mother's Day gift from a shop to bring home to their families. The Synarchists worried that this promoted both materialism and the idleness of lower classes, and in turn, reinforced the systemic social problems of the country.<ref name="newcomer 134–135">Newcomer, 134–135</ref> Currently this holiday practice is viewed as very conservative, but the 1940s' UNS saw Mother's Day as part of the larger debate on the modernization that was happening at the time.<ref name="newcomer 135–136"/> This economic modernization was inspired by US models and was sponsored by the state. The fact that the holiday was originally imported from the US was seen as evidence of an attempt at imposing capitalism and materialism in Mexican society.<ref name="newcomer 135–136">Newcomer, 135–136</ref>

The UNS and the clergy of the city of [[León, Guanajuato|León]] interpreted the government's actions as an effort to secularize the holiday and to promote a more active role for women in society. They concluded that the government's long-term goal was to cause women to abandon their traditional roles at home in order to spiritually weaken men.<ref name="newcomer 135–136"/> They also saw the holiday as an attempt to secularize the cult to the Virgin Mary, inside a larger effort to dechristianize several holidays. The government sought to counter these claims by organizing widespread masses and asking religious women to assist with the state-sponsored events in order to "depaganize" them.<ref name="newcomer 136–139"/> The clergy preferred to promote 2 July celebration of the Santísima [[Virgen de la Luz]], the patron of [[León, Guanajuato]], in replacement of Mother's Day.<ref name="newcomer 134"/> In 1942, at the same time as Soledad's greatest celebration of Mother's Day, the clergy organized the 210th celebration of the Virgin Mary with a large parade in León.<ref name="newcomer 136–139">Newcomer, 136–139</ref>

There is a consensus among scholars that the Mexican government abandoned its revolutionary initiatives during the 1940s, including its efforts to influence Mother's Day.<ref name="newcomer 134"/>

Today the "Día de las Madres" is an unofficial holiday in Mexico held each year on 10 May,<ref name="legacy">[http://legacyproject.org/guides/mdhistory.html The History of Mother's Day] from The Legacy Project, a Legacy Center (Canada) website</ref> the day on which it was first celebrated in Mexico.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.latintimes.com/mothers-day-2016-date-when-dia-de-la-madre-mexico-other-latin-american-countries-384106|title=When Is Mother's Day Celebrated In Mexico?|date=7 May 2016|access-date=28 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011203707/http://www.latintimes.com/mothers-day-2016-date-when-dia-de-la-madre-mexico-other-latin-american-countries-384106|archive-date=11 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Mexico, to show affection and appreciation to the mother, it is traditional to start the celebration with the famous song "Las Mañanitas", either a cappella, with the help of a mariachi or a contracted trio. Families usually gather to celebrate, trying to spend as much time as possible with mothers to honor them. They bring some dishes and eat together or visit a restaurant.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LHnp3mJQq1YC&pg=PA68|last=Thompson|publisher=[[Ten Speed Press|Celestial Arts]]|isbn=978-1587611148|first=Jennifer Trainer|title=The Joy of Family Traditions: A Season-by-Season Companion to Celebrations, Holidays, & Special Occasions|year=2008|access-date=10 July 2019}}</ref>