cards/flowers : Mother’s day has evolved in many countries in different ways. This is because mother’s day has different origins in different countries and therefore occurs on different days in the year. One school of thought claims that this day emerged from the custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Mother worship which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of gods, and Rhea, the wife of Cronus, was held on March 15 to March 18 around Asia Minor. They insist that this custom spread around the world. Mothering Sunday is the celebration of motherhood in the United Kingdom. It is also known as Mid-lent Sunday, Rose Sunday and Laetare Sunday. It originally comes from the Victorian practice of allowing servants to return home to visit their mothers on this day. In the United States, Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet. Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862 and quickly became one of the most popular songs for the Union during the American Civil War. After the war she focused her activities on the causes of Pacifism and women’s suffrage. In 1870 she was the first to proclaim Mother’s Day, with her Mother’s Day Proclamation. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson approved Mother’s Day in 1914

Secular holiday : King Charles III was born on 14 November, 1948. It is observed on various dates across the Commonwealth to fit with each country’s public holiday calendar.

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Secular holiday : Matariki is the Māori name given to the Pleiades cluster of stars, which rises in mid-winter in the southern hemisphere – marking the start of the Māori new year. The constellation’s reappearance in the night sky has been celebrated at events across New Zealand since the early 2000s, though Māori party MP Rahui Katene’s attempt to have it recognised as a public holiday failed in 2009. from 2022

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Culture : Www.nziff.co.nz lasts 2 weeks - in Auckland 2024 edition confirmed

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Secular holiday : Canterbury Day in Canterbury only

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Secular holiday : Commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day

Sports events : Www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz/ 2024 edition confirmed

Secular holiday : Marlborough Day in Marlborough only

Culture : Also known as Bonfire Night, Cracker Night, Fireworks Night, Bommy Night: celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November, 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, were alleged to be attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London.

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Tradeshows : Www.theshow.co.nz/ lasts 3 days - in Christchurch 2022 edition confirmed

Secular holiday : Christchurch Day in Christchurch only

Culture : From the Latin word adventus meaning coming : observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year. [Wikipedia]

Special Events : Day of sales and bargains