Fun Facts – 04 May 2016

Fun fact red stamp text on white

Fun fact red stamp text on white

  • In the 1600’s England, Mothering Sunday took place on the 4th Sunday of Lent. It began with a prayer service in honour of the Virgin Mary. Afterwards children would present their mothers with flowers.
  • Anna Jarvis was also a woman that may have been behind our traditional Mother’s Day celebration on the second Sunday of May. Anna never had any children, but wanted to carry out her own mother’s wishes of having a day just for mothers. Anna tirelessly campaigned and on May 8th, 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day
  • In the vast majority of the world’s languages, the word for “mother” begins with the letter M.
  • Ancient Egyptians believed cats were sacred animals and revered ‘Bast’ as the mother of all cats on Earth.
  • In what was formerly Yugoslavia, children would tie up their mother on Mother’s Day. The only way she could get free would be to pay her children with treats.
  • In 1939 in Lima, Peru, the youngest mother on record delivered a baby boy by C-section. She was only 5 years-old and the baby was raised as her brother.
  • On the flip-side, the oldest woman to deliver a baby was recorded on April 9, 2003. Her name is, Satyabhama Mahapatra, and is a 65-year-old retired schoolteacher in India. She gave birth to a baby boy, which was her first child after 50 years of marriage. However, the eggs were donated by her 26 year-old niece.
  • Before Octomom (Nadya Suleman), Bobbie McCaughey had septuplets – four boys and three girls – on November 19, 1997. The babies were born via C-section after 31 weeks.
  • The shortest span between two babies is by Jayne Bleackley. She gave birth to her son on September 3, 1999. Then only 208 days later gave birth to her daughter (on March 30, 2000).
  • Elizabeth Ann Buttle gives a whole new meaning to second family. She gave birth to her first child (a girl) May 19,1956. Then when she was 60 years-old, she gave birth to her son on November 20, 1997, making the babies 41 years 185 days apart.

Courtesy of info.osr.org