This weekend families across the nation will celebrate Mother’s Day — many in a manner unlike previous celebrations of the day that honors a mother’s dedication.

It is yet another major holiday to fall victim to social distancing imposed by the coronavirus, beginning with the silencing of parades and barroom revelry usual on St Patrick’s Day, when the Irish and otherwise would have hoisted glasses of Guinness and boisterously displayed their pride in the old country. This past March 17 was decidedly a quiet day, as bars and restaurants shuttered doors, and directives to stay apart from one another became a reality.

Passover came and went for those of the Jewish faith, with families challenged to create a Seder plate using what items could be procured from store shelves stripped bare by panic buying. Hunkered down and heedful of the virus ravaging cities nearby, it was a ritual shared by some only via social media, unlike extended family gatherings from years past.

The Easter holiday of the Christian community, likewise, took a different form on April 12, when most churches, including those in Newtown, offered services virtually, a practice introduced in previous weeks. Photos of congregants dressed up or down may have flickered across livestream Easter services, but there was no opportunity this year to raise voices together in song standing next to one another, young with old.

Other signs of the Easter season were also absent in April: hunts for hidden eggs and treasures were canceled. No children scurried across fields to scoop up colored plastic eggs; silence filled the streets, traffic subdued, smaller than usual numbers at the holiday table.

The month of Ramadan began April 23 with mosques closed to Muslims, families advised to observe services online and to celebrate in homes only with immediate families. Breaking fast at iftars would not be a part of the 2020 Ramadan observance.

So, on this Mother’s Day, how will we find ways, if we are not able to be in each other’s presence, to honor mothers who nurture and love unconditionally — and who may very well have recently stepped into the shoes of school teachers? We are thankful that technology exists, even when physical proximity is stymied; we can still view the daily goings on and hear the voices of those we love in real time. We can share messages from one home to the other.

And we can still put pen to paper — write letters, make cards, draw pictures: it is an exercise of the heart, for any mother, near or far — an exercise of love even for that mother who is only a beloved memory.

If you are lucky enough to have a mother figure to hold, embrace her for all it is worth, embrace her with the hugs of all of those who cannot do so this day. There will come a day when we hold hands again, when hugs are not virtual, when voices whisper directly in our ears.

Until then, on this Mother’s Day, we give the gift of staying home, staying safe, staying well.