Happy Mother’s Day
May 11
“Anyone can be a mother but it takes someone special to be a mom.”
Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring the mother of an individual or family and mothers’ societal influence. In many parts of the world, it is celebrated on different days, often in the months of March or May.
HISTORY in the USA
1905: Anna Jarvis organized the first Mother’s Day as a worship service at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. That church is recognized today as the International Mother’s Day Shrine.
Anna Jarvis campaigned for a Mother’s Day to celebrate all mothers, including her own mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War. Anna’s mother created Mother’s Day Work Clubs to discuss public health issues. In 1870, Anna’s mother and another peace activist and suffragist Julia Ward Howe advocated for a “Mother’s Day For Peace,” where mothers asked for“an amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace,” so that their husbands and sons were no longer killed in wars. Anna Jarvis wanted to foster these ideals and to have a day to honor all mothers because she believed a mother is “the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.”
1908: The U.S. Congress rejected a proposal to make Mother’s Day an official holiday.
1911: Anna Jarvis prevailed in getting all U.S. states to officially observe Mother’s Day as a local holiday with the first being in Jarvis’ home state, West Virginia.
1914: Woodrow Wilson proclaimed that Mother’s Day would be observed on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.
Early 1920s: Anna Jarvis protested the commercialization of Mother’s Day. She argued that people should hand-write letters expressing their love and gratitude for their mothers, instead of buying gifts and pre-made cards. Around this time, carnations, candy, and cards become traditional gift for mothers.