NOT-MOTHERS' Holiday

Hidey ho, dear readers! I'm clueing you in early: according to Z Budapest, tomorrow is "Matralia" -- Roman holiday in celebration of me, your faithful blogger-host Athana! Or at least I hope it is (note caveat below).

Says Z: "This day (June 11) we celebrate those who are motherly without having borne children. Mater Matuta, the Goddess of Dawn and Death, and also of harbors and the sea, received homage from Roman women who were not mothers themselves.... They are our support system." (From Z's The Grandmother of Time, on my HOT-Books list (see May 26 post).

So that's the hitch: Matralia's for "motherly" women. That "without having borne children" part is me, but maybe I should beef up on "motherly." Maybe by next year at this time I can find someone to declare, "Hey, Athana, as surely as the sun does shine, you are a Motherly Woman!"

But alas and alack, I suspect "motherly" rang differently in the ears of the Romans than in ours, since I imagine the status of "mother" has declined since Roman days (when all the world was closer to the Pure Goddess). Which brings me to this: On my "List of Posts I Want to Post" is: "Some had rotten mothers, and 'mother' doesn't sit well with them. Watta we do about this?"

Anyhoo. All you Not-Mothers out there, TOMORROW IS YOUR DAY! We love, celebrate and honor you! After all, even if no one's nodded at your motherly-ness lately, does the world as we know it really need more babies?!?