Mother’s Day was observed on Sunday throughout the Middle East. The holiday, timed to coincide with the Spring Equinox, is celebrated each year on March 21.
The special celebration of mothers was first marked in Egypt in 1956, following an official request to the country’s government by Egyptian journalist Mostafa Amin, who had learned of the official observance in the United States each year in May.
Amin became interested in a day to honor mothers after he met a woman who told him that she raised her son as a single parent, including putting him though medical school and buying him and his new wife a house. She said that after her son got married he stopped visiting her, even though she could not find anyone to take care of her, according to Al Arabiya.
After Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced Mother’s Day in 1956, most of the Arab world also announced similar observances. Among the countries that observe March 21 as Mother’s Day are Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Mauritania, Oman and Syria.