“A mixture of friend and mother”, “second mother” or “angel who fell from heaven”. Despite some jokes alluding to the bad reputation, mothersinlaw are fondly celebrated in several families. Mothers of spouses even have a special date on their calendar: the Motherinlaw’s daycelebrated on April 28th.
On the eve of the date, this Wednesday (27th), the Pope Francis defended what he called the “mythical character” when he held the general audience in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
“I wouldn’t say mothersinlaw are seen as if they were the devil, but it is certain that they will be treated pejoratively. However, the motherinlaw is her husband’s mother and his wife’s mother,” the Holy Pope began.
“We say, the motherinlaw, the further away the better. But no, she is a mother and an old woman. One of the most beautiful things for a woman is to have grandchildren. When her kids have kids, she comes back to life.”
On this occasion, he took the opportunity lead daughtersinlaw and sonsinlaw about family relationships. “Take care of your relationships with your mothersinlaw. Sometimes they’re a little special, but you didn’t give birth to your spouse.”
How MotherInLaw’s Day came about
By Juscelino Kubitschek
One of the theories on the origin of the date dates back to 1958 when Juscelino Kubistchek presided over the country. The newspaper Gazeta do Povo points out that the former president launched the celebration in connection with delays in the payment of federal employees’ salaries.
The motherinlaw comes into play because she acted as the family provider in the event of late payments quite common at the time. The date would then have been created to honor the fundamental presence of the husband or wife’s mother in the family.
Anaconda mother in law?
Another hypothesis linked to the date has the appearance of a mythical legend. In 1957, a Briton working in Brazilian industry wanted to include an anaconda snake in the list of specimens for a zoo to be built in his home. Although he brought the animal there, he could not pronounce the real name of the reptile the foreigner called “snake” “motherinlaw”.
‘snake’ in the family
According to the newspaper, Brazilian President Jânio Quadros would have invited his employees five years later: a special breakfast. Guests could even bring their wives and mothersinlaw to the event. However, one of the employees was reportedly confused and took his wife and a snake to the morning meeting, scheduled for April 28, later dubbed MotherInLaw Day.
Messages to the motherinlaw
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