The History of Mother's Day

　　Historians claim that the holiday of Mother's Day emerged from the ancient festivals dedicated to mother goddess.
　　In the ancient Greek empire, Rhea, the wife of Cronus, and mother of Gods and Goddesses, was worshipped.
　　In Rome too, Cybele, a mother Goddesses, was worshipped, as early as 250 BC. It was known as Hilaria, and it lasted for three days, called the Ides of March, that is from March 15 to March 18.
　　However, neither of them meant for the honoring of our immediate mothers, as is done in our Mother's Day.
　　Rather more closely aligned to our Mother's Day, is the "Mothering Sunday". England observed "Mothering Sunday", or the "Mid-Lent-Sunday, on the fourth Sunday in Lent.
　　In the United States, Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948) is credited with bringing in the celebration of Mother's day.
　　And, to know about the way the idea took roots in the United States; how it came to be observed for the first time; and how the undaunted spirit and unbounded love for her mother led to fulfill the dreams of Anna Jarvis, the mother of Mother's Day.

母亲节的由来

　　古母亲节起源于希腊，古希腊人在这一天向希腊神话中的众神之母赫拉致敬。在17世纪中叶，母亲节流传到英国，英国人把封斋期的第四个星期天作为母亲节。在这一天里，出门在外的年青人将回到家中，给他们的母亲带上一些小礼物。 　　
　　现代意义上的母亲节起源于美国，由Amanm、Jarvis（1864－1948）发起，她终身未婚，一直陪伴在她母亲身边，在母亲于1905年世纪，Amanm 悲痛欲绝，两年后（1907年），Amanm 和她的朋友开始写信给有影响的部长、商人、议员来寻求支持，以便让母亲节成为一个法定的节日。Amanm 认为子女经常忽视了对母亲的感情，她希望母亲节能够让人多想一想母亲为家庭所付出的一切。

The Dragon Boat Day

The Fifth day of the fifth lunar month in China is called the Dragon Boat Day. People in China have the tradition of eating pyramid-shaped rice-dumplings and rowing the dragon boat.
By doing so they want to commemorate Quyuan, the famous patriotic and poet of the Chu Dynasty. Quyuan was a noble, who always cared about life of the poor. People loved him very much. During his lifetime, the powerful kingdom of Chu fell into a decline. When he saw the danger posed by the ambitious Qin State, he proposed government reforms and an alliance with the neighboring Qi state as a way to ensure Chu's safety. Unfortunately, other officials who envied his achievements maligned him. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, he drowned himself in the Milo River, because he was hopeless about his country's future.
After knowing about this, local people rowed the dragon boats to look for his body, with a hope to bury him heavily. To their great disappointment, they failed to do so. Imaging that Quyuan was living at the bottom of the river, they made a lot of pyramid- shaped dumplings wrapped by bamboo leaves and threw them into the river. They hoped that he could have enough to eat. As time went by, this tradition was passed down.
Every year on this day people in China will hold a contest of rowing dragon boats and also make dumplings to commemorate Quyuan. Of course, they eat these dumplings instead of throwing them into water．

龙舟节（端午节）

　　农历五月五日是中国的龙舟节。在这一天，人们有吃金字塔形状的棕子和划龙舟的传统。
　　这样做是为了纪念屈原，战国时期楚国著名的爱国者和诗人。屈原是一位贵族，但他非常关心百姓疾苦。人民也十分热爱他。在他活着的时候，强大的楚国开始衰落。当他发觉了来自野心勃勃的秦朝的威胁时，他建议政府进行改革，并与楚国的友好邻邦齐国结盟以确保楚国的安危。可是其他的官员因妒忌他的才华，对屈原恶言相加，不断地诽谤他。最后，屈原对国家的未来失去了希望，五月五日这一天，屈原满怀悲愤投入了汩罗江。
　　当得知这一切后，当地的百姓划着龙舟沿着江水找寻屈原的尸体，希望厚葬他。令他们失望的是他们没有找到屈原的遗体。想象着他住在河底，百姓们用竹叶做成金字塔形状的粽子，将它们投入江中，希望屈原能吃到它。随着时间的流逝，这个传统也沿袭下来。
　　每年的这个时候，中国的老百姓都要做棕子和举行划龙舟比赛以怀念屈原。当然，人们不在将棕子扔入江中，而是吃棕子来寄托哀思。