May is the month for mothers; not only is the second Sunday of the month Mother's Day (May 10 this year), but the first day of the month is Mother Goose Day. A very appropriate combination, since mothers often teach MotherGoose rhymes to their children.

As you may know, Mother's Day was officially proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 at the urging of a determined activist named Anna Jarvis (inspired by her own mother, Ann Jarvis). Ironically, Anna Jarvis laterexpressed some reservations about the holiday, and mounted a protest against the commercialized affair it had become. Mother's Day is now the busiest day of the year for phone calls, the third busiest occasion for greeting cards, and the busiest day of theyear for restaurants. More than 60 other countries now also observe Mother's Day or its equivalent on the same date as the U.S. That's an awful lot of phone calls in the air on one day - not to mention a lot of pollen from flowers. And still other countriesmark the occasion at other times of the year. Some of these are much older traditions, and have some rather colorful folklore behind them.

In Nepal, for instance, the occasion occurs in April, and is called Mata Tirtha Aunsi. It's the custom to makea pilgrimage to a Hindu shrine near Katmandu to pay tribute to one's deceased mother with offerings of food, clothing and money, as well as donations to the poor. Pilgrims also may take a ritual bah in a pool there. This pilgrimage has its roots in a legendabout Lord Krishna from Hindu mythology. It seems that his own ma decided to go out for a stroll one day, and stayed out so long that he became worried about her, and went looking for her. And he finally found her, taking a dip in the pond at the place calledMata Tirtha Kunda. He was so overjoyed to find her safe that it was decreed that this spot should become the place for future generations to remember their missing mothers. And so it has become.

Mary Goose, who lived in the Boston area and died in 1690,was apparently a mother of several children. And there are rumors that she was in fact THE Mother Goose. But this appears to have been a rumor started by some of her goslings or their descendants; nursery rhymes attributed to her, and the persona of a MotherGoose itself, seem to be somewhat older. A reference to such a character appeared in print in France in 1650, around the time Mary Goose was born. And the great French collector of fairy tales Charles Perrault published in 1697 a volume of stories whose subtitlewas "Tales of My Mother Goose".

But that title was, of course, in French. And there is a great deal of debate about exactly which country can claim to be the good Mother's homeland. The first use of the name Mother Goose in English, interestinglyenough, may have been a typo. It was a reference to a play presented by a puppeteer, a play actually called "Mother Louse"; and just imagine what might have happened if that mistake had not been made. It's possible that instead of the caricatureof the beloved rhymester as a matronly fowl, we would have a bloodsucking bug. Well, maybe not, but perhaps the misprint did help popularize the name.

It in 1780 that a collection of nursery rhymes was first published under the now famous Mother Goosebrand by publisher John Carnan. And this was the real beginning of the Mother Goose rhyme legacy, which has been enormously popular ever since. Here's hoping that Jack and Jill, Little Bo Peep, and Mistress Mary Quite Contrary keep aging so nicely for manygenerations to come.

Act!vatedlyYours,
Dennis and Kimberly Goza
The Act!vated Storytellers

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In this issue

• When April Went to Visit March - Podcast
• Summer Shows - Coast to Coast Tour
• Now Booking

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When April Went to Visit March -Podcast

http://activated.libsyn.com/

"When April Went to Visit March" is a story from the Ukraine about the seasons, or rather about one season, and howit can be unseasonable, especially in a chilly climate like the Ukraine. The months of spring are appropriately personified to reflect the weather that typically accompanies them: harsh March, airy April and mellow May. Except sometimes May may show the traitsof March, so this tale offers a fanciful explanation.

We come to you from Sacramento, California, where we are doing a series of library performances for National Library Week. And we're doing stories especially appropriate for Earth Day, which the SacramentoCounty Library System is commemorating with a green theme.

And speaking of spring, we recount our recent visit to Saratoga, WY, which has a hot mineral spring that anyone can bathe in free at any time, year-round. But while we were there, we encounteredsome snowy weather, as we did during the entire month of March, which seemed to be anticipating the venting of a great deal of wrath toward May.

Happy Listening! [ download ]

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UpcomingPublic Shows

From Monterey, California to Medford, Masssachusetts

ONLY public shows are listed below. Please check our tourschedule for details, corrections and updates.

June

• 6/11/2009 at 3:00 Monterey Library, Monterey, CA
• 6/11/2009 at 4:00 Monterey Library, Monterey, CA
• 6/15/2009 at 10:00 Rio Rancho/ Esther Bone Library, Rio Rancho, NM
• 6/24/2009 at 10:30 Woodruff Library, Augusta, AR
• 6/24/2009 at 2:00 East Central Arkansas Regional / Cross County Library, Wynne, AR
• 6/25/2009 at 10:30 Garland County Library, Hot Springs, AR
• 6/26/2009 at 11:00 Marion County Library, Yellville, AR
• 6/30/2009 at 10:00 Louisburg Library, Louisburg, KS

July

• 7/16/2009 at 6:00 Ruth Camp Campbell Library, Franklin, VA
• 7/20/2009 at 3:00 Twin Hickory Area Library, Glen Allen, VA
• 7/20/2009 at 6:30 Tuckahoe Area Library, Richmond, VA
• 7/30/2009 at 10:00 Day Care, Green Lane, PA

August

• 8/4/2009 at 2:30 PM Southington Library, Southington, CT
• 8/5/2009 at 2:30 PM Stratford Library, Stratford, CT
• 8/10/2009 at 2:15:00 PM Monmouth Library, Manalapan, NJ
• 8/10/2009 at 6:30 PM Eastern Branch Library, Shrewsbury, NJ
• 8/11/2009 at Little Silver Library, Little Silver, NJ
• 8/11/2009 at 7:00 PM FairHaven Library, Fair Haven, NJ
• 8/13/2009 at 7:00 PM Medford Library, Medford, MA

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Now Booking

We are now booking shows for shows for schools from Maine to Virginia in the Fall; Carolinas to Florida in the Winter;Mid-west in March; West Coast in April-May 2010. Call (800) 429-6576 or email us for booking information.