In the U.S. Mothers' Day is a holiday celebrated
on second Sunday in May. It is a day when children
honor their mothers with cards, gifts, and flowers.
First observance in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1907, it
is based on suggestions by Julia Ward Howe in 1872
and Anna Jarvis in 1907.
Although it wasn't celebrated in the U.S. until
1907, there were days honoring mothers even in the
days of ancient Greece. In those days, however, it
was Rhea, the Mother of the gods that was given
honor.
Later, in the 1600's, in England there was an
annual observance called "Mothering Sunday." It
was celebrated during Lent, on the fourth Sunday.
On Mothering Sunday, the servants, who generally
lived with their employers, were encouraged to
return home and honor their mothers. It was
traditional for them to bring a special cake along
to celebrate the occasion.
In the U.S., in 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia,
began a campaign to establish a national Mother's
Day. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in
Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day
on the second anniversary of her mother's death,
the 2nd Sunday of May. The next year Mother's Day
was also celebrated in Philadelphia.
Jarvis and others began a letter-writing campaign
to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their
quest to establish a national Mother's Day. They
were successful. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914,
made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's
Day a national observance that was to be held each
year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
Many other countries of the world celebrate their
own Mother's Day at different times throughout the
year. Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia,
and Belgium celebrate Mother's Day on the second
Sunday in May, as in the U.S.
Contrary to popular belief, Mother's Day was not
conceived and fine-tuned in the boardroom of
Hallmark. The earliest tributes to mothers date
back to the annual spring festival the Greeks
dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities, and
to the offerings ancient Romans made to their Great
Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians celebrated this
festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of
Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was
expanded to include all mothers and was called
Mothering Sunday.
In the United States, Mother's Day started nearly
150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian
homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of
poor health conditions in her community, a cause
she believed would be best advocated by mothers.
She called it "Mother's Work Day."
Fifteen years later, Julia Ward Howe, a Boston
poet, pacifist, suffragist, and author of the
lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic,"
organized a day encouraging mothers to rally for
peace, since she believed they bore the loss of
human life more harshly than anyone else.
In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also
named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the
life work of her mother. Legend has it that young
Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her
mother gave in which she said, "I hope and pray
that someone, sometime, will found a memorial
mother's day. There are many days for men, but
none for mothers."
Anna began to lobby prominent businessmen like
John Wannamaker, and politicians including
Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her
campaign to create a special day to honor mothers.
At one of the first services organized to
celebrate Anna's mother in 1908, at her church in
West Virginia, Anna handed out her mother's
favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years
later, the House of Representatives adopted a
resolution calling for officials of the federal
government to wear white carnations on Mother's
Day. In 1914 Anna's hard work paid off when
Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing
Mother's Day as a national holiday.
At first, people observed Mother's Day by
attending church, writing letters to their
mothers, and eventually, by sending cards,
presents, and flowers. With the increasing
gift-giving activity associated with Mother's
Day, Anna Jarvis became enraged. She believed
that the day's sentiment was being sacrificed
at the expense of greed and profit. In 1923
she filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother's Day
festival, and was even arrested for disturbing
the peace at a convention selling carnations
for a war mother's group. Before her death in
1948, Jarvis is said to have confessed that she
regretted ever starting the mother's day
tradition.
Despite Jarvis's misgivings, Mother's Day has
flourished in the United States. In fact, the
second Sunday of May has become the most popular
day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines
record their highest traffic, as sons and
daughters everywhere take advantage of this day
to honor and to express appreciation of their
mothers.
