The History of Mother's Day

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. Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent. "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

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 1872, she suggested Mother's Day be on June 2 and that it be a day dedicated to peace. She sponsored Mother's Day meetings in Boston for several years, and people in other towns began to do the same.

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 also began the custom of wearing a carnation on that day-a colored carnation if one's mother is living and a white carnation if one's mother has died. 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. Anna's hard work finally paid off when On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution of Congress authorizing federal agencies to observe Mother's Day. The following year, Mother's Day was proclaimed as an annual national holiday.

Today, Mothers are often taken out for dinner, given greeting cards, flowers, or handmade gifts as expressions of love and appreciation.

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