Discover the forgotten history of Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day!
It seems this day has ancient Greek and Roman origins, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.”
However, it wasn’t until 1914 that it was recognised as a national holiday in the US.
And probably you didn’t know that this day actually began as a women’s movement to better the lives of Americans, and that Its forgotten origins spring from two lifelong activists who championed efforts toward better health, welfare, peace, and a better life.
Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”, the main church in the vicinity of their home, for a special service.
Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day in the 1930s and 1940s.

The creation of a national Mother’s Day is primarily attributed to three women: Ann Reeves Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe, and Ann’s daughter, Anna M. Jarvis.
Known as “Mother Jarvis”, the first one, Ann Reeves Jarvis, was a young Appalachian homemaker who taught Sunday school lessons, but she was also a lifelong activist who, in the mid-1800s, organized “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” in West Virginia to combat unsanitary living conditions.
She was concerned about the high infant mortality rate, especially pervasive in Appalachia, and wanted to educate and help mothers who needed it the most.
During the Civil War, Mother Jarvis had also organized women’s brigades, encouraging women to help without regard for which side their men had chosen. After the war, she also proposed a Mothers’ Friendship Day to promote peace between former Union and Confederate families.

The second one, Julia Ward Howe, was a famous poet and reformer.
During the Civil War, she volunteered for the U.S. Sanitary Commission, helping them to provide hygienic environments for hospitals and to ensure sanitary conditions during the care of sick and wounded soldiers while, in 1861, she authored the famous Civil War anthem, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” first published in February 1862.
Around 1870, she called for a “Mother’s Day for Peace” dedicated to the celebration of peace and the eradication of war.
As expressed in what is called her “Mother’s Day Proclamation” from 1870, she felt that mothers should gather to prevent the cruelty of war and the waste of life since mothers of mankind alone bear and know the cost.
Her version of Mother’s Day was held in Boston and other locations for about 30 years, but died a quick death in the years preceding World War I.
And nothing new happened until 1907, when Miss Anna M. Jarvis of Philadelphia took up the banner.

After her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died in 1905, Miss Anna Jarvis from Philadelphia wished to memorialize her mother’s life and started campaigning for a national day to honor all mothers.
“I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life,” she once said.
“She is entitled to it.”
However, Anna’s ideas were less about public service and more about simply honoring the role of motherhood and the sacrifices made in the home, and thus she bombarded public figures and several civic organizations with telegrams, letters, and in-person discussions, addressing groups large and small.
At her own expense, she wrote, printed, and distributed booklets extolling her idea.
So, in May of 1907, Anna memorialized her mother’s activism with a memorial service held at the Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Anna’s mother had taught.
The following year, on May 10, a Mother’s Day service was held at that same church to acknowledge all mothers, and thus was born the idea that the second Sunday in May, be set aside to honor every mother, whether living or deceased.
Her efforts came to the attention of the mayor of Philadelphia, who proclaimed a local Mother’s Day and, from the local level, she went on to Washington, D.C., where the politicians there knew a good thing and were quick to lend verbal support.
Although West Virginia was the first state to officially adopt the holiday, others followed suit: proclamation of the day by the various states led also Representative J. Thomas Heflin of Alabama and Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas to present a joint resolution to Congress that Mother’s Day be observed nationwide, and the resolution was passed by both houses.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill designating the second Sunday in May as a legal holiday to be called “Mother’s Day”, dedicated to the best mother in the world, your mother.
For the first few years, the day was observed as a legal holiday, but in absolute simplicity and reverence, with church services held in honor of all mothers, living and dead.

In short, it seemed Anna simply wanted to honor her mother, claiming that her mother was the originator of the real Mother’s Day but, as the holiday went mainstream, she was dismayed to see it become more commercialized with the sending of greeting cards and flowers.
Actually she also didn’t even want the holiday was promoted by women’s organizations, charitable foundations, or public health reformers to raise money—somewhat ironic considering her mother’s public health mission and, eventually, Anna Jarvis died alone, in 1948, in a sanitarium in a state of dementia.

Other early Mother’s Day pioneers include Juliet Calhoun Blakely, a temperance activist who inspired a local Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the 1870s.
The duo of Mary Towles Sasseen and Frank Hering, meanwhile, both worked to organize a Mothers’ Day in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some have even called Frank Hering “the father of Mothers’ Day.”

Either way, Mother’s Day endures and evolves still today. Just as Mother’s Day was the creation of multiple women, the modern Mother’s Day celebrates the varied roles of mothers today, including the way mothers have raised and nurtured their children with love and courage.
Did you know? More phone calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year. These holiday chats with Mom often cause phone traffic to spike by as much as 37%!
Although versions of Mother’s Day are celebrated worldwide, traditions vary depending on the country. In Thailand, for example, Mother’s Day is always celebrated in August on the birthday of the current queen, Sirikit.
Another alternative observance of Mother’s Day can be found in Ethiopia, where families gather each fall to sing songs and eat a large feast as part of Antrosht, a multi-day celebration honoring motherhood…