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What is The Meaning Of Mother’s Day and How Did Mother’s Day Get Started?

Mother’s Day, Mothering Sunday, Fête des Mères, Día de las Madres, Muttertag, La Festa della Mamma, it goes by many different names, however you wish to say it, the expression of appreciation and love for your mother is the same. Today’s modern version of what know as “Mother’s Day” with families sending Mother’s Day flowers, gifts and chocolate to their moms can be traced way back to the seventeenth century in England.

In early history springtime was when they held festivities to honor the goddess in all women. Most of the mothering festivals to celebrate the rebirth of the land and the beginning of the most fertile time of the year.

In prehistoric tribes motherhood has always been celebrated and a mother is considered to be a Goddess and was worshiped as the creator of life. In many archaeological digs they have found many female goddess figures to represent motherhood.

Another mother goddess known as Cybele is another famous goddess in history as is the jealous wife of Zeus. In Rome there was Hera and in Ancient Greece Rhea was revered as the mother goddess. The Queen of Heaven show ruled over all matters concerning mothering in ancient Egypt was Isis.

The Original Mother’s Day was actually called Mothering Sunday and was on the fourth Sunday in Lent…The family gathered for a mid-Lenten feast with Mother as the special guest. Mothering Sunday was a special day when all strict rules about penance and fasting were put aside. The older children returned home for Mothering Sunday who were away working learning a trade or working as servants.

Along with a rare visit from her children, mothers were given treats of wildflower bouquets and homemade cakes, cookies and other baked goods. While ‘Mothering Sunday’ is still celebrated, most now know it as Mother’s Day.

The history of Mother’s Day in the rest of the world is a bit different. In the USA, the early English settlers often disapproved of the more secular holidays and the Mothering Sunday tradition never really took hold. Early attempts to have a day to honor mother’s were mixed with woman’s suffrage and peace movements and were not very popular.

Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, suggested the idea of an International Mother’s day to celebrate peace and motherhood in 1872. There were many other women who were active with local groups holding annual Mother’s Day remembrances, but most were more religious gatherings and not the holiday that we know today.

The mother of Anna Jarvis was another woman who was working on establishing Mother’s Day as a national celebration. Mrs. Jarvis wanted to hold this annual gathering the heal the pain the the Civil War and originally called it Mother’s Friendship Day. Anna campaigned to make Mother’s Day an official holiday after her mother died in 1905 to commemorate her mother and devoted her entire life to the struggle to have Mother’s Day declared a national holiday however it was her daughter Anna Jarvis’s campaign that actually is the reason we have a formal holiday.

In the spring of 1908, Miss Anna Jarvis wrote to the superintendent of Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and requested that a Mother’s Day service be held in honor of her mother where she had taught Sunday School classes for over 20 years. The superintendent agreed and with 407 people in attendance on May 10, 1908 the first Mother’s Day celebration was held at Andrew’s Methodist Church. In order to commemorate the service, Anna Jarvis sent 500 white carnations to the church in Grafton. One carnation was to be worn by each son and daughter and two carnations each mother.

Later that afternoon another service was held in Philadelphia where Anna resided with her brother. Anna had requested that the first official service be held in Grafton, where the Jarvis family had lived so much of their lives and where her mother had served for so long as a teacher and public servant.

In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared that Mother’s Day should be celebrated as a national holiday on the second Sunday in May.

The history of mothers day – a tribute to activist mothers from the past and present.

Mother’s Day may not have turned out to be the holiday that Anna Jarvis or Julia Ward Howe expected it to be. Anna Jarvis was actually arrested at a Mother’s Day festival because she was trying to stop people and women from selling flowers. Mother’s Day changed from being a special day of appreciation and semi-religious occasion of prayers and a day of peace to a pagan world where it was all about selling gift, candy, flowers and and whole dining out extravaganza. Jarvis said “I wanted it to be a day of sentiment not profit.”

Mother’s Day is now a celebration of mothers around the world…dedicated to honoring the women who give so much to their families without asking for anything in return. Perhaps every day should be Mother’s Day, but most families are too busy with everyday business to say thank you for every meal or every good night kiss or all the little things that a mother does each day for her family that she loves so dearly. There is no other love deeper that that of a mother for her child.

Flowers, cards and gifts are just the outward signs of appreciation and love. Once every year, the world stops being busy and says thank you mom. What mothers love most is the fact that their families and children really do notice all that they do and for one day every mom is queen for a day.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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1 What Is The Meaning Of Mothers Day How Did Mothers Day Get Started