Mother's Day. Many countries - but not all - are marking that day today, Sunday 9 May. The Greeks and Romans are also thought to have celebrated such a day. Later on, it became a mainly Western tradition, but other countries, too, have taken it up and given it a flavour of their own.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide takes a look at eight variations on Mother's Day, from breakfast in bed in the Netherlands to cemetery visits in Peru.
 

The Netherlands: homemade presents - by Wendy Braanker
 
Dutch children like making their own presents for Mother's Day. Robin Zeekaf (7) from Amersfoort in the centre of the country has painted a picture on plaster at school. "When I give it to my mum, I'll say: Congratulations!"
 
Her brother, Martijn (9) is a bit old to make his own Mother's Day gift. He wants to buy his mother "a really nice chain".
 
Mother's Day breakfast is served on home-made placemats. That this is happening in a holiday home on one of the northern Wadden Islands is pure coincidence. Dutch schools have a two-week spring holiday in early May and, of course, a holiday increases that special Mother's Day feeling.
 
Peru: busy restaurants and cemeteries - by Anna Rosales
 
In a country where macho culture rules, it's a hard-working mother who's in charge of the house: food preparation, clothes ironing and keeping the place clean, often with the help of a maid. She deserves, father thinks, to be spoiled. The best idea is an outing to one of the specially organised attractions. Restaurants are also really busy, because mum shouldn't have to cook on that day and father doesn't want to (or can't). Flower shops display their most beautiful and expensive wares.
 
Many mothers would prefer it not to be so overdone. They would be just as pleased to have the whole family all together again for once. Mothers who have been taken away from their families also get lots of visitors at the cemetery.
 

China: a tailor-made suit for mum - by Bei Wang
 
Ms Wang, a single woman in her 30s who is a white-collar worker in Shanghai, plans to take her mother to a tailor to have a suit made. 
 
"My mother is quite plump," she explains, "and it's difficult to find nice clothes in the shops. Tailor-made clothes will fit much better. Sometimes, when I've taken my mum to the shopping mall to buy clothes, she's said that they're too expensive. So when I suggested going to a tailor, she agreed. I think this is the best present for my mum."
 

Caribbean style: Mother's Day shows - by Roy Khemradj 

Mother's Day is a major event for families in Aruba, the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam, but it is all very commercial. There are lots of adverts for restaurants in papers and on the radio. Louise Schavet (59) lived on Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles until she was 12 and then in Surinam until she was 21. She is a single mother, now living in the Netherlands.
 
"I'm going to The Hague on Sunday. There's a big Antillean/Aruban Mother's Day show, a tradition that has been brought over to the Netherlands. Well-known artists pay musical homage to their mothers. This year's show has been given the title The Most Beautiful Flower in My Garden. Mothers who have done something special will be called up to the stage and made a fuss of." The ticket price, at 70 euros, is certainly high but Ms Schavet was given one as a present.
 
"My mother thinks it's really important that her children and grandchildren are with her. My brother makes sure that the best food is delivered to the house. In Surinam, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, Mother's Day is a kind of holy day. It is celebrated far more lavishly than Father's Day."

 
Kenia: a 'middle class' thing - by Michael Kaloki
 

Mother's Day is celebrated in Nairobi and other urban areas, and is announced in papers and shopping malls. Now that it’s heavily promoted in the newspapers and the magazines, more and more people celebrate it. Generally, though, it’s seen more as a 'middle class' thing. But Mother's Day is important for our flower-growing industry, because around that day, and Valentine's Day, we export more flowers than during the rest of the year.

As for myself, if I don't get something for my Mum, at least a card, she won't be too pleased!

France: over-expensive presents - by Frank Renout

In France, Mother’s Days continues to be celebrated the traditional way. “Children buy presents for their mother,” says Claudette Lemaire (67). “It’s hardly changed all these years,” she says, as she leaves a bakery in a village west of Paris. “Last time, my grandchildren bought my daughter a bunch of peonies. And my three children got me a furniture set for the garden. I thought that was really too expensive. But my husband also paid for it. Normally he never chips in. He always says: Mother’s Day, that’s for the kids.” Dutch traditions are alien to Lemaire. “Breakfast in bed? Never had that! It’s not possible anyway. I’m always the first to get up.”

Indonesia: cakes and kisses – by Feba Sukmana

My generation of Indonesians celebrate anything. So the past ten years I’ve been celebrating Mother’s Day on 22 December, the official date in our country. Nothing big, just a few presents, cakes, or kisses. But my mother’s generation never celebrates anything. Some of them don’t know when their own birthday is, let alone Mother’s Day.

A few years ago, I got my father and brother to really pamper my mother for Mother’s Day. My father cooked, my brother and I did chores. In the evening my mother asked: “Are you trying to make up for something?”

"What do you mean?"

" All of you’ve been so nice to me all day long. It isn’t normal!”

Nigeria: church celebrations - by Aveseh Azough

In Nigeria we celebrate Mother's Day too, but mostly in church. On that day, women's groups take charge of the Sunday service. It has been "imported" from abroad, and not that many people identify with it. Recently, however, people have been paying more attention to it, and some buy gifts for their mothers. But most people aren't even aware on the day itself. I don't send my mum a gift, but I do call her on that day. That's a must.

Syria: a national holiday - by Remco Andersen

Arabs celebrate ‘mother's feast’ on 21 March. In Syria it is even a national holiday. Whether street cleaners or professors—everyone joins in. Sana el-Imam (50), a seamstress, is a divorced mother of two adult sons. “When they were little, Tareq and Tarif always showed up with Coke, candy and cake,” she says, smiling. “And on Mother's Day I'm not allowed to do anything. If I get the broom, they snatch it from me.”

Presents are important, but to Sana what matters is the nice food and the company— like at all Arab festivities. But this year, the first Mother's Day without Tareq who recently went to the United States, it's been a quiet affair: “We just sat there, no fruit, no cheese, nothing.”