Thai Mother's Day

 It was Mother's Day in Thailand on August 12th.  It occurs on this day because it coincides with the queen's birthday, Queen Sirikit. The Queen is considered the mother to all of Thailand.

Photo of the Thai Queen (from wikipedia.com)

Thailand takes this day very seriously and reminds children what a burden they are, so they must show lots of love for their mother's. 

 The white jasmine flower is the symbol of mother's day.  And there are blue flags placed everywhere which is the Queen's flag.  (There is a yellow flag for the king and blue for the queen.)

In class we made mother's day cards and jasmine flower pictures.  There was also a kindergarten assembly that the mother's were invited to so the kids could give their mother's flowers on stage.  It was very cute and touching to watch. 

 There is also a beautiful Thai mother's day song sung on this day.  It's called เรียงความเรื่องแม่ (Mother Essay).  The chorus can be translated to say "Wherever you are, whoever you may be, send me some love and whenever you hear this song miss me. I promise I will be a good child!" Check out the song on Youtube. 

On the Friday before mother's day all the teacher's had to wear blue and attend a special ceremony to honor the Queen and all the mother's  Here they choose to teachers to be awarded Best Mom awards.  (No idea how or why they were chosen.)