Mother's Day Celebration in Panama

Today is Mother's Day here in Panama! Our church had a service and Mother's Day celebration last night with a special surprise at the end. It was a special evening!

Panama celebrates Mother's Day in December because it coincides with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic holiday observed on December 8. Many families gather together to share a meal and celebrate their mothers. It is a national holiday, so many stores, banks, and government offices are closed. Panama is the only country in the world that celebrates Mother's Day on this date.

The mamas were all asked to come sit on the front row, and it was a little wild at times with all the kids trying to sit with their mamas! Ha!

The pastor's sons read Proverbs 31 to the church about the virtuous woman. It was read in English and Spanish.

The pastor and some other guys performed a few special songs for the mothers.

A missionary team was in visiting and they gave each mother a white rose. It was sweet because they had pulled all of the thorns off of the stems.

We played a game of telephone and somehow I'm afraid the message died with me. The message was, "I'm feeling fine. Me siento bien." At the end, it was only said in Spanish, so I'm not sure if the mama after me didn't understand the English part or thought I had messed up saying it to her in English. Ha!

Each mama received a gift from the church given to her by one of her children. It was really sweet how proud each child was to give a gift!

My favorite part of the evening was the mariachi band surprise! I love mariachis! I lived in Mexico in the early 2000s as a missionary, so I saw a lot of mariachi groups. My husband had a group perform the night we got engaged, and we had one play at our wedding.

These guys did a great job and even sang one of my favorite songs. I got to sing them another song that I really like that they had never heard. In high school, my Spanish teacher had us memorize a few songs, and I did the same to my students when I was a teacher.

We ended the evening with a meal for all the mamas.

The mariachi singers were all related to the pastor's wife. She was so happy to see them. They had come up from the town down the mountain to perform for our group.

It was a special evening and everyone enjoyed their time!

Here's a video I just made of our celebration with some of the songs from the mariachi group -