Why is Mother’s day (“आमाको मुख हेर्ने दिन”) celebrated in Nepal?

Date: 19th April, 2015

Once there was a boy, a shepherd, who used to take his cows other cattle to graze around the nearby pond. Everytime he started eating his lunch, a bit of his food fell into the pond.

This kept repeating for a very long time. The boy, out of his curiosity, thought of peeping into the pond to learn what was really going on there.To his surprise, he saw the image of his dead mother staring at him with a huge smile on his face.
The poor boy was so happy to see her that he started crying. Tears started rolling down from his eyes. He wanted her to come back home so badly. He asked, “Mama! I have been hurt so much since you passed away. I have been all alone for this very long time. Please come back home.” The mother was sorry to see her son. She said she was already dead and it was not possible for someone to go back home once they are dead. But she did promise that she would visit him every year on the day of Baisakh Shukla Aushi- the day of new moon of Baishakh. The boy agreed and visited the pond every year to meet his mother. Slowly the story spread and people started visiting the pond to visit their deceased mother. The pond is now called by the name “Mata tirtha pond”.

I am telling you this story because we may be celebrating the mother’s day since the day we could remember. But not many of us knew the story behind the same. What bothers me is, when I look at my Facebook feeds, more than 95% of the posts dedicated to one’s mother and mother’s love and the fun fact is the mother does not have the idea of any.

We remember the day but we are forgetting the importance. We may bring a large pound of cake to celebrate the day but did we really make her happy? I want you to look into your past and think, have you ever tried to see the pain you mother is hiding behind that smiling face? If you did, ask yourself again, have you tried to ease the pain??

You know, there are three types of tears a mother cries for you.
One the tears of joy, when your mother is filled with joy to see you and your achievements.
The second, the tears of pain, when your mother is hurt to see you getting hurt.
and the third, the tears of shame, when your mother is ashamed to see what you have done.

Now you ask yourselves, what gift of tears are you giving your mother this mother’s day???