Mother's Day - a day like no other

 

Early Mother's Day celebrations can be dated back to the spring celebrations to honour Rhea, the Mother of the Gods, in ancient Greek civilization, according to some sources. Later, Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom was traditionally a day for people to visit the church where they were baptized, although it now also celebrates motherhood in modern times.

The modern-day origins of Mother's Day can be attributed to two women – Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis, who were important in establishing the tradition in the United States. 

Around 1870, Julia Ward Howe called for Mother's Day to be celebrated each year. It continued to be held in Boston for about 10 years under her sponsorship, but died out after that. 

Other sources say that Juliet Calhoun Blakely initiated Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the late 1800s. Her sons paid tribute to her each year and urged others to do likewise.

In 1907, Anna Jarvis held a private Mother's Day celebration in memory of her mother, Ann Jarvis, in Grafton, West Virginia. In 1908, she played a key role in arranging a church service that attracted 407 children and their mothers featuring white carnations, her Mother’s favourite flower, which Anna Jarvis asked to be the official symbol for the day. 

She is also responsible for the construction of the International Mothers Day shrine. This shrine is dedicated to the preservation of motherhood. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States, located together with a museum at Grafton, West Virginia, and aims to preserve, promote and develop the spirit of motherhood. 

Mother’s Day International Association was founded in 1912 to promote the holiday in other countries. Mother’s Day has grown increasingly popular since then, and is now largely commercialised. Anna Jarvis actually filed a lawsuit to stop the over-commercialisation of Mother's Day but was unsuccessful.

When Anna Jarvis died in 1905 her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialise 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."

Despite early misgivings, Mother's Day has flourished throughout the world adhering to a multitude of different customs, traditions, symbols, and practices for each country that celebrates the day.

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 time to express appreciation of their mothers.

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