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The history of Mother's Day
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By MARLA TONCRAY
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As we prepare to honor mothers across America this Sunday with gifts of flowers, jewelry and other items, a look at the origins of the observance gives a bit of perspective on how it came to be that we take a moment on the second Sunday of May to pay homage to the women we call mother.
According to The Complete History of Mother's Day, found on the Web site http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history, the history of America's celebration of Mother's Day didn't get its start until the late 1800s, even though Mothering Day had been observed in England since the 1600s on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the 40 days of fasting preceding to Easter.
During this Lenten Sunday, servants and trade workers were allowed to travel back to their town of origins to visit their family and Mothering Day allowed a one-day reprieve from the fasting and penance of Lent so families could enjoy a sumptuous family feast, with mother as the guest of honor. It was also a tradition to present the mother with gifts of cakes and flowers during the visit.
According to the Web site "When the English settlers came to America, they discontinued the tradition of Mothering Day. While the British holiday would live on, the American Mother's Day would be invented -- with an entirely new history -- centuries later. One explanation for the settler's discontinuation of Mothering Day was that they just didn't have time; they lived under harsh conditions and were forced to work long hours in order to survive. Another possibility, however, is that Mothering Day conflicted with their Puritan ideals ... the pilgrims ignored the more secular holidays, focusing instead on a no-frills devotion to God."
Mother's Day Central outlines the history of the American observance with the following:
The first North American Mother's Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870. Howe, who wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic 12 in 1858, had become distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on American mothers to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their sons killing the sons of other mothers.
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At one time, Howe proposed converting July 4th into Mother's Day, however, June 2 was chosen instead for the celebration. In 1873 women's groups in 18 North American cities observed this new Mother's holiday. Howe provided funding for many of the celebrations and once she withdrew financial support, most of the celebrations died out. Only the city of Boston continued to celebrate Howe's holiday for 10 more years.
A West Virginia women's group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe's holiday in an effort to re-unite families and neighbors divided between Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War during a Mother's Friendship Day.
Following Jarvis' death, her daughter, Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother's Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. In 1908, she petitioned the superintendent of the church where her mother had spent 20 years as a Sunday school teacher. Her request was honored and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother's Day celebration took place at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, W.Va., and a church in Philadelphia, Penn. The West Virginia event drew 407 people and Anna Jarvis provided two white carnations, her mother's favorites, to each mother in attendance.
Today, white carnations are used to honor deceased mothers, while pink or red carnations pay tribute to mothers who are still alive.
Andrew's Methodist Church exists to this day and was incorporated into the International Mother's Day Shrine in 1962.
In 1908, Elmer Burckett, a U.S. senator from Nebraska, proposed making Mother's Day a national holiday at the request of the Young Men's Christian Association, but the proposal was defeated. By 1909, 46 states held Mother's Day services, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico.
Anna Jarvis devoted herself to the creation of Mother's Day, endlessly petitioning state governments, business leaders, women groups, churches and other institutions and organizations. She convinced the World's Sunday School Association to back her, a key influence over state legislators and congress.
In 1912, West Virginia became the first state to officially recognize Mother's Day and in 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance, declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
Information for this article obtained from "The Complete History of Mother's Day", http://www.mothersdaycentral.com.
Contact Marla Toncray at 606-564-9091 ext. 275 or marla.toncray@lee.net. |
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