O•S•C•A•R© Fida's Pizza Changes Hands - Old Ottawa South

Page 20
By Anna Redman
A
Greek Goddess, a determined
American, church services and
the Mother of Pharaohs are
only some of the major components
that came together to create the globally
celebrated holiday of Mother’s Day.
The vast commercialization which
is associated with the modern day
version of this holiday leads people
to believe that it is nothing more
than a Hallmark creation. In actual
fact, countries worldwide celebrated
the mothers among them long before
Hallmark even existed.
Egypt was one of the first
countries to celebrate Mother’s Day.
The Egyptians held an annual festival
in honour of Isis, the Mother of
Pharaohs. Legend has it that Isis gave
birth to Horus, son of her dead brother.
Her brother was killed at the hands of
their envious brother Seth, who Horus
would grow up to defeat. This defeat
allowed him to reunite Egypt and
become the first Pharaoh, thus making
Isis the Mother of Pharaohs.
Both Greece and Rome also
celebrated mothers in early society.
Their focus was on the major mother
deity. In Greece she was referred to as
Rhea, while in Rome she was known
as Cybele. Both countries celebrated
with games, crafts, flowers and honey
cakes during the later portion of the
month of March.
The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR
History of Mother’s Day
March is also the month of
celebration in Britain. The initial
celebration was actually in honour
of the “Mother Church” and fell on
the fourth Sunday of Lent. However,
the celebration changed in the 1600s
to include actual mothers. This
celebration still took place during Lent
and became a one day vacation from
fasting and penance. Presently, this
holiday is known as Mother’s Day, but
following the change in the 1600s it
came to be known as Mothering Day.
Unlike the European celebrations,
which were always about celebrating,
Mother’s Day in America was
prompted by grief. Julie Ward Howe
was the instigator, and her motivation
came from the Civil War. Howe
was so distraught by the deaths this
war has caused that she called on
mothers to come forward and protest
the pointlessness of their son’s death.
Howe wished to designate a day for
celebrating peace and motherhood,
suggesting that the fourth of July
could be converted. This suggestion
was ignored with June 2 eventually
being deemed Mother’s Day. Howe
funded the majority of Mother’s Day
celebrations and when her funding
ceased so did Mother’s Day.
However, Howe’s efforts were not
in vain as Anna Jarvis of West Virginia
continued the Mother’s Day mission.
She began by petitioning her church to
start a Mother’s Day in honour of her
own mother, who had taught Sunday
school there. When her application
was approved May 10, 1908 became
the first official Mother’s Day of the
church. The white carnation was the
favourite flower of Anna’s mother.
This prompted its use in the first
official Mother’s Day and its continued
association with the holiday.
Jarvis quit her job and took the
Mother’s Day project on full time. In
1912 West Virginia celebrated the first
state wide Mother’s Day with all of
America celebrating in 1914. It was
in 1914 that President Wilson signed
a bill the deemed Mother’s Day a
national holiday. While initially this
bill signing appeared to be a success
for Jarvis it later turned out to be quite
the opposite. As a national holiday
Mother’s Day came to be acquainted
with the commercialization that
holidays such as Christmas and Easter
also know well. Jarvis felt that such
commercialization defeated the point
and spirit of Mother’s Day and is said
to have regretted starting the tradition
before her death in 1948.
Regardless of Jarvis’ feelings on the
holiday it is still celebrated today both
in America and many other countries.
Each country has its own time of year
and festivities devoted to the holiday.
America celebrates on the second
Sunday in May with dinning out being
one of the more popular traditions.
Many other countries have adopted the
American tradition such as Australia,
Canada, and China. Pakistan and Saudi
addition to my own.
The HST system is designed to
make industry more competitive in
the export market by reducing their
expenses. This was the Mulroney
Conservatives’ rationale in replacing
the old manufacturers’ Federal Sales
Tax with the GST. The idea is that
more export will bring wealth in to
the province, to the benefit of all of us.
Providing a tax incentive is perhaps
fair. However, I would prefer a system
where businesses are given tax breaks
in direct relation to their exports. For
trade within Ontario, they should pay
some taxes along with everyone else.
I spoke with David Salter, who
works for my MPP, Yasir Naqui.He
explained that the HST legislation
is needed to keep businesses going
during the current recession. I’m
in favour of helping people out in
difficult times, but recessions come
and go. Prosperity will return but the
transfer of taxes from businesses to
consumers will be permanent.
The state of the economy is being
used an excuse. This has been done
before: The Provincial Sales Tax
originally applied only to sales of
goods. When recession and recordhigh
interest rates were causing the
collapse of the housing market in
1982, the Province decided to create
a special fund to give qualifying
new home buyers interest-free loans.
In order to raise the revenue, they
extended the PST to most services.
MAY 2010
Arabia also follow a similar tradition
but celebrate annually on May 10th.
European countries tend to celebrate in
March near the Easter period, but still
celebrate in an American manner.
Other countries are more original.
Thailand celebrates on August 12 to
coincide with the birthday of their
beloved queen, Sirikit Kitayakara.
Ethiopia celebrates with a 3 day
celebration following the end of
the rainy season in mid-autumn.
Yugoslavia and Serbia have a
particularly creative celebration
around Christmas. Their celebration
occurs over three weeks and begins on
the Sunday prior to Mother’s Day. The
parents tie up their children until they
promise to be good. The following
week the children tie up their mother
until she offers them various treats.
On the final week the father is tied up
until he promises expensive presents,
normally their Christmas gifts.
Mother’s Day is celebrated all over
the world. People from various cultures,
countries and customs dedicate an
annual holiday to the celebration of
mothers. Each year children and their
families come together to shower their
mother with love, affection and gifts.
It may not have been the tradition that
Anna Jarvis had in mind, but Mother’s
Day has come to be a day enjoyed and
celebrated by people everywhere.
HST Opposition ... Cont’d from previous page
When interest dropped and the und
was cancelled, the new taxes didn’t
go away. At least they exempted some
essential services, which the present
government now intends to tax.
Advocates of the HST are
predicting that we will enjoy lower
prices when businesses no longer have
to account for the PST on their inputs.
I don’t believe this: Companies need to
make a [profit, and tend to charge what
the market will bear. The Mulroney
Conservatives made the same claim
for the GST, that all prices would
come down with the removal of the
old Federal Sales Tax from production
costs.
The McGuinty Liberals are
pretending to honour the principle of
not taxing necessities by exempting
children’s clothing, car seats, feminine
hygiene products and books. Yet, they
will be adding provincial tax to such
essentials as heating oil, gasoline,
and electricity. Fuel is absolutely
crucial in our winters: A person will
die a lot quicker without heat than in
the absence of food and water. When
I asked Mr Salter of Yasir Naqui’s
office, if he would agree with me that
heating fuel is necessary, he replied he
couldn’t say. I find this frightening.
The $1000 ‘transition benefit’
for families with an income less than
$160,000 is simple bribery. It’s a drop
in the bucket compared with what
people will be paying in new taxes
over the long term.