Date of Celebration in Honor of all Mothers : May 13, 2008.
Originally conceived by Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil
War as a day honoring (in her opinion) the inherent pacifism of
mothers, Mother's Day now simply celebrates motherhood and
thanking mothers. Mothers often receive gifts on this day.
Mother's Days are celebrated on various days of the year in
different countries because they have a number of different
origins. One school of thought claims this day emerged from a
custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Mother worship —
which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of gods, and
Rhea, the wife of Cronus — was held on March 15 to March 18
around Asia Minor. In most countries, Mother's Day is a new
concept copied from western civilization. In many African
countries, Mother's Day has its origins in copying the British
concept.
In most of East Asia, Mother's Day is a heavily marketed and
commercialised concept copied straight from Mother's Day in the
USA. Some historians believe that the earliest celebrations of
Mother's Day was the ancient spring festival dedicated to mother
goddesses. The ancient Greek empire had a spring festival
honoring Rhea, wife of Cronus and mother of the gods and
goddesses. In Rome there was a Mother's Day-like festival
dedicated to the worship of Cybele, also a mother goddess.
Ceremonies in her honor began some 250 years before Christ was
born. This Roman religious celebration, known as Hilaria, lasted
for three days - from March 15 to 18. As Christianity spread
throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother
Church" - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected
them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the
Mothering Sunday celebration. People began honoring their
mothers as well as the church. In the United States Mother's Day
was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the
words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to
peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in
Boston, Mass ever year.
Mothering Sunday :
In contrast to Mother's Day, Mothering Sunday is not a
celebration of motherhood, but a synonym of Laetare Sunday.
During the 16th century, people returned to their "mother
church" for a service to be held on the 4th Sunday of Lent. This
was either a large local church, or more often the nearest
Cathedral. Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone
'a-mothering' although whether this preceded the term Mothering
Sunday is unclear. It was often the only time that whole
families could gather together, if prevented by conflicting
working hours. The other names attributed to this festival
include Simnel Sunday, Refreshment Sunday and Rose Sunday. This
is due to the practice of baking Simnel cakes to celebrate the
reuniting of families during the austerity of Lent. Because
there is traditionally a lightening of Lenten vows on this
particular Sunday in celebration of the fellowship of family and
church, the lesser-used label of Refreshment Sunday is also
used, although rarely today. Rose Sunday is sometimes used as an
alternate title for Mothering Sunday as well, as is witnessed by
the purple robes of Lent being replaced in some churches by rose
coloured ones. This title refers to the tradition of posies of
flowers being collected and distributed at the service
originally to all the mothers, but latterly to all women in the
congregation. The Catholic Encyclopedia, however, asserts that
"the Golden Rose, sent by the popes to Catholic sovereigns, used
to be blessed at this time, and for this reason the day was
sometimes called 'Dominica de Rosa'". Another tradition
associated with Mothering Sunday is the practice of 'church
clipping' whereby the congregation form a ring around their
church building and holding hands, embrace it. For some Church
of England churches, it is the only day in Lent when marriages
can be celebrated. In later times, Mothering Sunday became a day
when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their
mother and other family members. In today's more secular times,
it is generally celebrated as the British equivalent of
America's Mother's Day.
Historians believe that our modern day tradition of honouring our
mothers dates back to the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome. Mother
goddesses were worshipped in both of these cultures during the spring
and in religious festivals. Rhea, powerful goddess and wife of Cronus,
was also known as Mother of the Gods. There is evidence of a mid-March
festival to honour the Roman goddess Magna Mater, or Great Mother which
dates back to 250 BC. The celebration of the "Mother Church" replaced
the pagan festivals during the spread of Christianity throughout Europe.
Since it was believed that the Mother Church was spiritual power that
gave life and protected from harm it was customary for people to bring
gifts to the church. In Europe during the middle Ages, the fourth Sunday
in lent became known as mothering Sunday. Most poor folk were employed
as servants of wealthy landowners, and therefore forced to live in the
home of their employer. They were allowed to return home on the fourth
Sunday in Lent, and often brought small gifts or a "mothering cake" also
known as Simnel Cake. The cakes, prepared ahead used dried fruit, as
these would keep and travel well during the journey home, which would
have been made on foot, or if one was fortunate, by horse and cart. "I
think it must somewhere be written that the virtues of mothers shall be
visited on their children, as well as the sins of their fathers."
Charles Dickens Modern tradition of Mother's Day.
The contributions of Anna M. Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe & Juliet Calhoun
Blakeley :
Julia Ward Howe, author of the words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic,
was the first person to suggest that America adopt a day when all
mothers should be honoured. She saw Mother's Day as a day dedicated to
peace. The suggestion was not taken seriously however, although she held
Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Massachusetts every year. The
celebration of Mother's Day as a holiday in the United States is
attributed to Mrs. Anna Jarvis, who dedicated her life to promoting the
holiday. She was inspired by her own mother's devotion to the raising of
a family of eleven children. On the second anniversary of her mother's
death, the second Sunday in May, Anna Jarvis convinced her mother's
parish in West Virginia to hold a celebration of Mother's Day. The
church was decorated with her mother's favourite flower, the white
carnation, a symbol of sweetness, purity and endurance. Mother's Day -
the day of flowers The white carnation was originally worn to symbolize
a mother who has passed away and a red carnation for one who is living.
However, many other flowers are now accepted as being significant on
Mother's Day. In 1910, West Virginia officially recognized Mother's Day,
and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it a national holiday.
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". 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 handed out her mother's favorite flower,
the white carnation. 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. In 1914 Anna's hard work paid off
when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother's Day as a national
holiday. At first, people observed Mother's Day by attending church,
writing letters to their mothers, and eventually, by sending cards,
presents, and flowers. With the increasing gift-giving activity
associated with Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis became enraged. She believed
that the day's sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of greed
and profit. In 1923 she filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother's Day festival,
and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a convention selling
carnations for a war mother's group. Before her death in 1948, Jarvis is
said to have confessed that she regretted ever starting the mother's day
tradition. Despite Jarvis's misgivings, Mother's Day has flourished in
the United States. 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 advantage of this
day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers.
The first person to fight for an official Mother's Day celebration in
the United States was Julia Ward Howe. In the United States, Julia Ward
Howe suggested the idea of Mother's Day in 1872. She wrote her Mother's
Day Proclamation in 1870. 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. She was active in the peace movement and the women's suffrage
movement. In 1870 she penned the Mother's Day Proclamation. In 1872 the
Mothers' Peace Day Observance on the second Sunday in June was held and
the meetings continued for several years. Her idea was widely accepted,
but she was never able to get the day recognized as an official holiday.
The original Mother's Day Proclamation :
The Mothers' Peace Day was the beginning of the Mothers' Day holiday in
the United States now celebrated in May. Here is the Proclamation that
explains, in her own powerful words, the goals of the original Mother's
Day in the United States :
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosum of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of
war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
On May 13, 1877, the second Sunday of the month, Juliet Calhoun Blakeley
stepped into the pulpit of the Methodist-Episcopal Church and completed
the sermon for the Reverand Myron Daughterty. According to local legend,
Daughterty was distraught because an anti-temperance group had forced
his son to spend the night in a saloon. Proud of their mother's
achievement, Charles and Moses Blakeley encouraged other to pay tribute
to their mothers. In the 1880's the Albion Methodist church began
celebrating Mother's Day in Blakeley's honor.
The First Mother's Day :
The first Mother's Day observance was a church service honoring Mrs.
Anna Reese Jarvis, held at Anna Jarvis's request in Grafton, West
Virginia, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1908.
Carnations, her mother's favorite flowers, were supplied at that first
service by Miss Jarvis. White carnations were chosen because they
represented the sweetness, purity and endurance of mother love. Red
carnations, in time, became the symbol of a living mother. White ones
now signify that one's mother has died.
Official Proclamation :
The House of Representatives in May, 1913, unanimously adopted a
resolution requesting the President, his Cabinet, members of Congress,
and all officials of the federal government to wear a white carnation on
Mother's Day. Congress passed another Joint Resolution May 8, 1914,
designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. The U.S. flag is
to be displayed on government buildings and at people's homes "as a
public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our
country." President Woodrow Wilson issued the first proclamation making
Mother's Day an official national holiday.
