History of Mother’s Day 

The first connection with Mother’s Day goes back to ancient Greeks, specific to Rhea, the mother of several deities, as well as the Romans who presented offerings to Cybele, the “Great Mother of Gods”.  Thereafter, Christians began celebrating Mother’s Day in honor of the mother of Christ, Mary, which was held during Lent on the fourth Sunday of the month.  Eventually, Mother’s Day was expanded on in England as a way of showing respect and honor to all mothers, which then became known as “Mothering Sunday”. 

Today, Mother’s Day is a highly celebrated holiday in America, with a long, rich history of more than 150 years.  The creation of the holiday in the United States started with an Appalachian mother named Anna Jarvis.  She was an early day “Mother Theresa”, responsible for raising awareness in relation to people in the community who lived with poor health.  Showing her support for all mothers, Jarvis deemed her work, “Mother’s Day Work”. 

Pushing the ahead, 15 years, a poet, and the author who wrote the song, Battle Hymn of Republic by the name of Julia Ward Howe, organized a special day specifically for mothers in promoting peace.  Jarvis’ daughter, also named Anna, organized a campaign in 1905 to honor all the wonderful work of her mother.  With this, the daughter lobbied with Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, along with a number of businessmen to establish one special day to memorialize mothers around the world. 

Then in 1908 at a special meeting, Anna passed out white carnations, her mother’s favorite flower, to the congregation in the church.  By 1913, the House of Representatives called for government officials to wear white carnations, as a way of showing honor to Mother’s Day.  However, the official Mother’s Day was not signed as a bill until 1914. 

In the beginning, this wonderful holiday was recognized by people writing letters of endearment to their mothers, attending special church services, and sending gifts, flowers, candy, and cards.  Interestingly, Jarvis became engaged and soon realized that the crux of Mother’s Day was being lost to greed.  Because of this, she filed a lawsuit in 1923 with Jarvis doing her best to stop all festivities.  Unfortunately, she was arrested for disturbing the peace and just before her death in 1948, told people that she was sorry the Mother’s Day tradition was ever established. 

Even though Jarvis felt this way, the tradition of Mother’s Day, especially in the United States, has continued to be a beloved holiday celebrated by millions of people every year.  Today, mothers are still taken to dinner, they still receive flowers, gifts, candy, and cards and they are still honored not just by sons and daughters, but other members of the family.