In England, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday during Lent and began with the intention to honour the Virgin Mary or as she is affectionately called, ‘Mother Mary’. While she remains a symbol of sacrifice and goodness, the reality of an ever-evolving lifestyle has altered our understanding and acceptance of motherhood.
Time has shown us that nothing ever stays the same. We grow and our needs grow and change with us even though we are rooted in the basic human needs for love, acceptance, and respect. The understanding and concept of motherhood has grown too. Or out-grown really, the more confined definition of what it means to be a mother. As a construct, time is objective, and because it is unbiased and unchangeable, it has value to allow us to gauge growth and to understand the progression of life. As a construct, motherhood is subjective and because it is biased and ever changing, it has evolved throughout time based on the development of the society and community around us. The earliest of times, saw motherhood as having very defined parameters based on increasing the chances of survival from an evolutionary perspective. That single focus adapted when social norms and cultural nuances came into play and enhanced the role and expectation of the mother. As lifestyle norms became more diverse and ambitions escalated to new heights, motherhood was expected to be more than before and widened its scope to show mothers as not only succeeding on the family front but also in pursuing their own goals, proving that they could do it all!
Throughout history, we have encountered a number of phenomenal mother figures in both traditional and untraditional roles of motherhood. From Florence Nightingale that healed with more than medicine, to women like Queen Elizabeth, the mother of the Commonwealth and head of one the most famous families in the world, to Enid Blyton and J K Rowling who were mothers to a generation through their legacy of children’s book characters and inspired young imaginations to soar to new heights, women have shown the world what it is to have strength and grace while facing the pressures of raising the future and protecting their own dreams and ambitions. Today, motherhood is not as clearly defined in the traditional sense that we were used to. Motherhood takes many shapes now with others stepping into the role to help balance what one woman was expected to provide. Fathers have a much bigger place in child rearing and home making, extended family, friends and even secondary and tertiary influences like brands and digital media have an impact on how young minds are moulded. Mothers are persecuted less for their decisions to divert from tradition, and they are even encouraged to change the status quo for the betterment of our future.
It’s funny how most things that are nurturing or provide a euphemism for protection, life or care are personified in the female form, like mother nature, a ship, or even the planet earth, yet time has always been personified as ‘father time’ and expressed through the male identity of power, duty and unyielding consistency. It isn’t that time is harsh and lacks a softer side. It is only because the character of time is based on the perceptions of our individual preferences so that when it suits us it can be comforting but it can also be dismissive of our desires through its strict functionality.
This Mother’s Day, we took a moment to contemplate the effect of motherhood on our own journey and appreciate all the women who have silently but graciously supported the dedication and perseverance it takes to launch a brand that was birthed through a passion for the craft and a pursuit of perfection. Just like a mother’s love, this project too required a lot of patience, sacrifice and belief and while we don’t assume to know the intricacies and challenges of motherhood, we certainly have a much deeper appreciation and understanding of what it takes to bring something to life. It is a legacy we hope to keep alive and that is exactly what every mother does when she embraces the blessing of taking on the title.
