May 10 2009
The History of Mother’s Day
Ancient Celebrations of Mother’s day
Contrary to the popular belief that Mother’s day was conceived and tuned I the Hallmark’s office, the occasion is celebrated from long back in Greece as a part of spring festival to Rhea, the mother of many deities and to Cybele, the Great Mother of Gods in Rome. Even the Christians celebrated this occasion on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mother Mary, Christ’s mother. In England, this Sunday was dedicated to all the mother’s and named as Mothering Sunday.
Beginning of Modern Mother Day’s Celebrations
The modern mother day celebrations started about 150 years ago in United States when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker organized an event to drew people’s attention towards poor health conditions in her community. According to her, this event could be addressed and understood in the best manner by a mother. That is why she also named it as ‘Mother’s Work Day’. This occasion can be quoted as a beginning of mother’s day celebration,
After 15 years of the ‘Mother’s Work Day’, Julia Ward Howe, the lyricist of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, who was also a pacifist and suffragist, started the mother’s day celebration for encouraging mothers to rally for peace, since she thought that no one else can bore the loss of human life more harshly than them. Until these celebrations, mother’s day was meant of encouraging mothers to take up socially important charges in order to bring an emotional and attitudinal shift in the society.
Anna Jarvis attempt for official Mother’s Day Celebrations
In 1905, when Anna Jarvis, the founder of the ‘Mother’s Work Day’ expired, her daughter also named Anna began a campaign to honor the dream of her mother to celebrate a day to honor mothers. She worked on the lines of a poem that her mother made her remember as a child. The poem were lined ‘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 businesspersons like John Wannamaker, and politicians like Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign. She even organized a celebration at the West Virginia church in 1908 as mother’s day festival. In 1914, Woodrow Wilson finally signed a bill declaring the second Sunday of May, as ‘Mother’s Day’ a national holiday.
Commercialization of Mother’s Day Occasion
For first few years, mother’s day was celebrated as a sacred occasion when people went to church and wrote letter’s to their mothers. However, as the times changed, a trend of cards, presents, and flowers came in fashion. The increasing commercialization of the occasion enraged the founder of the day, Anna Jarvis. She even filed a lawsuit to stop the celebration of this occasion on the pretext that the feelings of this occasion are being sacrificed at the expense of commercial benefits of few. However, until present date the day remains to be one of the most popular day of celebration all over the world. Source : The web
