Mother’s Day is on May 14th and here is history behind the holiday:
The ancient Greeks were among the first to pay tribute to mothers. Their spring festival celebrated Rhea, the mother of all Greek gods. Their holiday was not passed on, but a holiday to celebrate mothers was established in Medieval Britain. Servants were given the fourth Sunday of Lent to travel home and spend the day with their moms. This custom was called Mothering Sunday.
The modern Mother’s Day holiday was created by Anna Marie Jarvis. Anna admired her mother, who attended to the wounded during the American Civil War and later became a community activist. When Anna was twelve, she heard her mother pray that one day, there would be a Memorial Day for mothers and all the good that they do. Anna never forgot the prayer and when her mother passed away in May of 1905, the plan for a holiday was born.
On the second anniversary of her mother’s passing, Anna held a church memorial dedicated to her mother’s good deeds. In May of 1908, Anna held another memorial and handed out white carnations, her mother’s favorite flower. She contacted Philadelphian philanthropists John Wanamaker who joined a Mother’s Day committee in hopes of honoring all mothers across the nation. In 1910, West Virginia became the first state to honor the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. After a letter writing campaign, Anna got congress to federally recognize the holiday. In 1914, President Wilson signed a bill that officially made the second Sunday in May, Mother’s Day.
The holiday was meant to be spent in church and afterward, sons and daughters would write loving letters to their mothers. Carnations were worn that day: pink or red honored living mothers and white honored moms who had passed. With each year, more Mother’s Days carnations were sold and by 1920, greeting card companies produced Mother’s Day cards. Anna was enraged by what she considered as a lazy excuse for Mother’s Day letters that should be handwritten. By 1924, the holiday creator was so appalled with the commercialization of Mother’s Day, that she petitioned to abolish it. In 1930, Anna was arrested for disturbing the peace at a Mother’s Day carnation sale. Sadly, Anna spent the rest of her life and family inheritance fighting the holiday. She died in 1948, leaving no children to remember her.
Since then, Mother’s Day has become one of the most profitable holidays for florists and the phone company’s highest volume day of the year. Americans spent an estimated 21.4 billion dollars on Mother’s Day in 2016 and 78% of the population will buy a Mother’s Day card. For all the mothers, we want to take a moment to honor and congratulate you on Mother’s Day. May you and your loved ones have a wonderful holiday.
