Mi madrecita

Mother's Day, I know has come and gone, but I also have not gotten the chance to get to town since then to write about Mother’s Day here in Honduras.

I was talking to my mom the second time I called for Mother’s Day about how the priest in our parish at home was talking in mass that day about how the woman who invented the special day in America spent the rest of her life since then fighting how it was celebrated. Now, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with how Mother’s Day is celebrated in the States, but I just think it’s so much more wonderful here in Honduras (and, I believe, in all of Latin America). That’s why I called my mom 3 times that day (she doesn’t know about the third, because I couldn’t get a hold of her the third time because the lines were so clogged up), because I was constantly reminded the entire day of how special mothers are and how much they deserve such a wonderful tribute to them.

When people go away from the house to study or work, they normally come home only 3 times a year. Once for Christmas, once for Holy Week, and once for Mother´s Day. I remember in the afternoon on Saturday, noticing that the bus from our town was passing through town a 3rd time to drop people off, and thinking ¨how strange, the buses only pass by twice.¨ Then I remembered, Mother´s Day! There are only 2 buses that leave from my town to go to the city each day. Well I know that on that Saturday, each bus made at least 2 trips because there were too many people coming into town to see their mom the next day.

On Sunday, I went to mass and saw that it was especially full that day and there was a buzz of excitement all inside and outside the church. During the homily, the priest talked especially about mothers and their role in the family. After the mass, a few people got up and said poems about mothers (there are a ton of them in spanish).

After mass, I went home to call my mom, because I missed her. After talking to her a short bit, I went to the school, where the students were putting on performances for Mother´s Day. They danced, sang songs about mothers and recited poems about mothers. It was beautiful. After that, I went to a friend´s house to celebrate the big day with them, and they were making a feast at home, with a special cake to go along with it as well!

One thing I love about this culture, and the importance of Mother´s Day definately reflects it, is how special family is. Family and relationships are their number one priority. It is very community-centered, which I think is why I feel so at home here, even though my family isn´t here with me!