Mother’s Day from Then to Now

Text by Helen Lepp Friesen

Historians maintain that Mother’s Day originated many centuries ago during Greek and Roman festivals. Greeks dedicated their annual spring festival to Rhea, the mother of many deities. Ancient Romans made offerings to their Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians originally celebrated Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday during Lent to honour the mother of Christ, Mary. In England this day was later called Mothering Sunday and was extended to honour all mothers.

In the late 1800’s Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian woman, in efforts to raise awareness for the needs in her community, organized a day called Mother’s Work Day. Anna Jarvis died in 1905 but her daughter, also Anna, campaigned to continue her mother’s work by lobbying businessmen and politicians to create a holiday to honour mothers. In 1908 a church in West Virginia celebrated their first Mother’s Day. At this service Anna handed out white carnations. They were her mother’s favourite flower.

In 1914, Mother’s Day became a national holiday. People observed Mother’s Day by attending church services, writing letters, poems, and later sending cards, flowers and presents. This tradition continues to the present day.

Mother’s Day is celebrated the second Sunday in May and is the busiest time of the year for restaurants and telephone lines as sons and daughters around the world take time to express gratitude to their mothers.

Here are some ideas for intangible Mother’s Day gifts whose worth cannot be measured in price tags:

Find out what your mother’s favourite music was when she was younger. Then look for the album and serenade her on Mother’s Day or request her favourite radio station to play a tune from it.

Since restaurants are often crowded on Mother’s Day, make her favourite food, pack it in a basket and head out to a park for a Mother’s Day picnic.

Make a treasure hunt for your Mother and send her scurrying around the house and yard to find the present you got her.

Get your mother flowers that she can later plant outside so she can enjoy them for a whole season.

The Art of Ukrainian Egg Painting – Pysanky

Text by L. Baker

Pysanky, or the art of Ukrainian egg painting, is a 2000 year old art form which transforms an egg into an incredibly detailed work of art. The artist will begin with a raw white egg which is a symbol of life and rebirth. They typically use heated bees wax to draw intricate designs onto the shell. After the designs are etched onto the egg, it is then bathed in a series of dyes. The design progresses with additions after each dye color. Once the design is completed, the wax is removed, polyurethane protection is added and the raw egg is blown from the shell. This process can take several hours and can be a very delicate, detailed job, but the end results are spectacular.

Ukrainian Egg symbols and colors have special meanings.
Yellow denotes youth, happiness, and love.
Light blue denotes sky with its life-giving air and good health.
Red indicates sun, happiness in life, hope and passion.
Orange is for the everlasting sun.
Brown represents the earth bringing forth bounty.
Pink indicates success.
Light green denotes breaking or shackles and freedom from bondage.
Dark red represents harvest, gathering fruit in the fall.

There are some essential tools used in Pysanky. The Kitschy, a tool with a various drawing ends attached to a brass handle (you can also purchase electric ones). It is used to draw the beeswax designs on the egg. Another important tool is an Egg Lathe, an instrument which holds each end of the egg firmly in place to make it easier to draw the designs on the surface. An egg blower instrument can also come in handy; it saves on sore cheeks and dizziness. Other essentials are drying racks, paper towels, a Bunsen burner or small hand propane torch, vinegar (to put in the dye), beeswax, polyurethane, a pencil and of course – your egg. Any egg can be used, even Ostrich eggs.

Place your clean and dried egg in the Egg Lathe and begin to draw your grid on the outer shell. With the Kitschy, cover the grid with beeswax and place it in the dye baths until your eggs patterns and colors are complete. Hold your egg over the hand torch flame and let the wax melt. Once the wax is melted, wipe it off thus allowing the colors to show through. Once your patterned and colored egg is done then blow out the insides of the egg and seal it with polyurethane or varnish.

These eggs are stunningly beautiful and can be used as Christmas tree decorations, home ornaments or special gifts.

Thanksgiving’s Deep Roots

Images of pilgrims with buckle shoes and black hats, of turkeys and pumpkins, often with the Mayflower anchored offshore, help to perpetuate the notion that Thanksgiving has its roots in American history. However, there is evidence that the celebration actually had its beginnings much earlier. It shouldn’t be surprising that no one country or culture has the corner on expressing gratitude.

Greeks, Egyptians and Romans practiced some sort of celebration at the completion of harvest. Various religions prescribe feasts and offerings to express both thankfulness for provisions and recognition that we cannot take credit for all the good gifts we receive. From earliest biblical records, there are consistent reminders to acknowledge God as the giver of life and all that is needed for sustenance.

Europeans who settled in North America probably brought with them the practice of a thanksgiving celebration in October. Some maintain that the first documented thanksgiving observance in North America was one led by English adventurer Martin Frobisher in 1578 in what is now known as Newfoundland. He gave thanks for a safe ocean journey. That would place the first Canadian Thanksgiving 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The harvest celebration which early American settlers practiced was probably a secular one, and there is some doubt whether there were any Pilgrims present.

Others dispute the Frobisher account. Peter Stevens, in a work cited on the York University website, gives another perspective. In “A Wealth of Meanings,” Stevens indicates that Ontario Protestant clergymen “felt it their moral and historical duty to shape the Canadian identity in the Christian mould and saw the adoption of the Thanksgiving holiday as a way to do this.” From 1921 to 1931, Armistice Day — now Remembrance Day — and Thanksgiving Day coincided, but the two events evoked such diverging emotions that it became evident they needed to be separated. The date was moved several times, but on January 31, 1957, the Canadian government set the second Monday in October as “a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” Perhaps the variety of claims to the origins of Thanksgiving Day indicates a widespread need to express gratitude.

The practice of giving thanks for abundance – for good harvests whether in field, garden or on fishing grounds, should not be relegated just to one day. If we are truly thankful, every day can be Thanksgiving. Enjoy wild rice or yams, apple pie or pumpkin pie, turkey, ham, bison or beef roast or even a peanut butter sandwich. Gratitude will improve enjoyment of any meal. Happy Thanksgiving!

Text by P. Gerbrandt

Labour Day

Text by Lori Broadfoot

Labour Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world, but in Canada, the first Monday in September has become associated with a farewell to summer for most workers and families. What can be considered the first Labour Day event had decidedly political overtones and was staged as a demonstration of support for the rights of workers right here in Canada.

Ten thousand people lined the streets of Toronto on April 15, 1872 to watch a parade, organized primarily to protest the imprisonment of 24 leaders of the Toronto Typographers Union who had launched a work strike to ensure a nine-hour maximum day for its workers.

The protest parade was organized by the Toronto Trades Assembly, which is considered the first labour association in Canada. At the time, a mere five years after confederation, it was still illegal to be a member of a labour union. These organizations were seen as “criminal conspiracies in restraint of trade”. The TTA represented 27 unions formed in defiance of the law, with memberships from builders, bakers, cigar makers and other trades. Following the parade speakers addressed the throngs of people, demanding the immediate release of the imprisoned TTU members, and addressing the need for workers to unite in their struggle for fair labour practices for all workers.

In September of the same year another parade was staged, this time in Ottawa. Brought together by seven trade unions in our nation’s capital, the protest extended more than a mile and was lead by the Garrison Artillery band and bordered by torch-bearing firemen. The parade passed by Prime Minister John A. MacDonald’s home, and he was taken by carriage to Ottawa City Hall. He addressed the gathered workers, promising to “sweep away all such barbarous laws from the statute books”, as those which declared trade unions illegal. He was true to his word, and the laws were repealed by parliament later that year.

Parades and demonstrations celebrating the rights of workers became commonplace in Canada over the next ten years. In 1882, a prominent New York union activist, Peter J. McGuire was invited to participate in the annual demonstration and picnic organized by the Toronto Trades and Labour Council, a successor to the TTA. Held in July of that year, the gathering inspired McGuire to suggest a specific day be set aside to honour workers in the US. The first Labour Day was celebrated on September 5, that same year and in 1894, the governments of both the US and Canada declared the first Monday in September a national holiday.

The first Labour Day parade held in Winnipeg that year stretched for two miles. Ever since, workers and their families have enjoyed a day reserved to celebrate our work world freedoms and securities, which we may now take for granted. Inspired by the hard-fought demands of the ‘illegal’ members of the Toronto Trades Assembly, workers now benefit from common labour practices as pay for statutory holidays, safety in the workplace, employment insurance, reasonable workday hours and what we now refer to as The Weekend.

As we celebrate the last long weekend of summer, we should also toast the courage and fortitude of those labourers in our history that have fought for the fair treatment of workers everywhere.

Need a Holiday?

Text by Lori Broadfoot

Fifteen years ago, the bulk of the travel agents business was couples wanting to get away on mid-winter holidays. Now, entire multi-generational families are traveling to the same resort to vacation together for family reunions, weddings or just a group get-away. When you’ve worked hard all year, you need a treat to get away and relax. At a resort, no one has to cook, clean or sleep on the sofa. A holiday at an all-inclusive resort, booked by a travel agent, will include the air fare, airport to hotel transportation, hotel rooms, all food and beverages, as well as nightly entertainment.

People are starting to look at weddings in the Dominican Republic and many other destinations in Mexico as an option rather than booking a big hall in their home town and fussing over all the details. The average sized group is 30-40 people, but groups of over 60 for a wedding are possible. Many wedding guests may have to travel anyway, from other provinces and states; it’s even more convenient for them to travel to an all-inclusive resort.

Some weddings take place right on the beach, and a lot of our brides are barefoot! “I’ve even had a bride who had a very special white bathing suit made with a long flowing chiffon wrap-around skirt. She wore flowers in her hair, it was absolutely incredible.

Most weddings are booked for the winter months, January to March, and the couple may enjoy accommodations in a honeymoon suite. Those in the wedding party and close family will usually arrive a few days before the wedding; that way they can take the time to relax and make last-minute preparations for the big day. Also, everyone coming from various locations can arrive on their own schedules.

Each person attending the wedding is responsible for their own costs, but once they leave home, guests don’t have to pay for anything else. Either the wedding itself is included with the group booking, or there is a nominal fee for a separate package, and there may be a private reserved area for the wedding ceremony and party. The agent takes care of everyone’s travel arrangements; usually guests come from across North America.

With activities and services for children from toddlers to teens, all-inclusive resorts have become popular with people who want to get their friends together, or if they have a large family. People will even travel with small children, as all-inclusive resorts may host kids’ themed events and activities, and also offer child-minding services. Older kids and teens may enjoy water sports facilities and classes. Parents can go dining and dancing alone in the evening, or play sports or relax and take in the sun during the day, knowing their children are supervised and having as much fun as they are.

A lot of people who have been traveling for years now have their children moving away and perhaps getting married. Rather than ‘going home to visit Mom and Dad’, they all vacation together by going to a common destination and everyone has a holiday.

The industry advises booking a holiday six to eight months in advance. First of all a deposit guarantees your space and prices aren’t like they used to be where the airlines sell off any vacant seats at a discount. In the past five years, the high demand flights are selling out. If you wait for last minute sales, even to save a hundred or two on the flight (if one is available), you run the risk of not finding suitable accommodations because the four and five-star hotels may sell out, the demand is that high. The travel industry has also introduced Early Bonus Bookings (EBB), where a tour company will reward customers for paying for their tour by an early fall date, perhaps by the end of October. Some agents may also provide discounts to repeat booking customers if they book well in advance of departure.

A knowledgeable agent will have a lot of information about a wide variety of destinations, and be able to match the accommodations to the customer. As agents we want to keep the customer happy and select the right destination and resort to meet their needs. Some people want to get away to relax, others want to be active and party.

Agents have opportunities to see hotels and resorts through specially planned agent-only trips so they learn first-hand what may be offered to their clients. Agents will also use feedback from their clients upon their return from a holiday about the accommodations and quality of the service.

The personal attention you will receive from your agent may be invaluable. Agents will receive advance notice of upcoming issues, such as weather, that may affect travel, and are then able to take care of their clients’ needs promptly. For instance last year when hurricane Katrina hit Cancun, I was able to re-locate all–about thirty–of my bookings to other destinations. The general population, especially if they’ve booked their holiday online, may not be able to make last minute changes to their reservations, or they simply won’t know of another suitable destination. An agent will work aggressively to give their own clients satisfaction and tour companies will do everything they can to work with an agent, who represents to them multiple and repeat bookings.

Hot southern destinations are still most popular in the winter, springtime and autumn are the traditional times to visit Europe, lots of bus tours are available then, and summer is popular for honeymooning couples. There are still new resorts popping up at destinations in Mexico that people may not have heard of yet, if people looking for something new.

More people are taking cruises nowadays, with all of the facilities on-board they are like resorts, with the added bonus of a new destination to explore at each port of call.

A travel agent will be able to tailor your vacation package to suit your desires and budget. The toughest decision may be to choose what part of the world you’d like to visit.