Mother’s Day is an important tradition in Ukraine. You don’t choose to not celebrate Mother’s Day – you just don’t. Unlike the U.S., which acknowledges this day on the second Sunday of May, Ukrainian Mother’s Day is celebrated on the 8^th of March. However, the second Sunday of May is also recognized. Symbolized by the elegant Snowdrop flower (Podsnezhnik in Russian), this day is all about appreciating our moms.

Teachers at school would always give us construction paper, scissors, and glue to create our own Mother’s Day cards for our Moms. We would sit in our classrooms and draw flowers and hearts on our congratulatory cards, showing each other our work. Meanwhile, men all over the country are running around various shops, looking for perfect gift ideas for their mothers and wives. As men, most of them are likely to have left the task until the last minute.

On the morning of one long-ago Mother’s Day, my mom and I baked my grandmother a chocolate cake. I was about 6 or 7 years old at that time. We slaved in the kitchen for over an hour, but the rewards were great. When the cake was finished, I stood in the middle of the kitchen, which was stained with white flour due to numerous spills on my part, and licked the spoon coated with leftover icing. But that wasn’t it. When I saw my grandmother’s face as we presented her with her cake (complete with “Happy Mother’s Day” written at the top in melted caramel), I wanted to bake another one…and another one…just to keep seeing her smile.

In my family it was customary for the entire family to get together for an extravagant dinner at our house, with everyone pitching in home cooked meals and desserts. Everyone had their speciality – my grandmother made the most delicious meatloaf, my aunt always brought a tasty salad, and my own mom was famous for her various desserts. As for the men, well, they weren’t really invited – they just kind of showed up! But they always brought a fairly large box of chocolates with them, so their gatecrashing tendencies were forgiven.

Mother’s Day was always a special occasion in my family in Ukraine. Unfortunately, after moving to the U.S. our Mother’s Day traditions were largely forgotten. But every year, I still bake a chocolate cake for my mom to keep Mother’s Day alive.