Mother's Day's Surprising History
May 9, 2008 |
On Sunday, May 11, our nation will celebrate the 100th year anniversary of Mother's Day. The United Kingdom began celebrating mothers much earlier than the United States. In the 17th century, on "Mothering Sunday," children in the UK presented their mothers with flowers and "Mothering Cakes." Early Christians celebrated a sort of mother's day each year (on the fourth Sunday of Lent), when they remembered and celebrated the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. Legend points to mother's day remembrances practiced each spring by the ancient Romans and Greeks.
Now observed in more than 46 countries (often set on different dates), official and annual Mother's Day celebrations give people the opportunity to thank their own mothers as well as recognize the valuable impact upon society the world's mothers make and have made.
United States citizen and social activist, Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the Civil War song, "Battle Hymn of the Republic"), wrote a powerful "Mothers Day Proclamation" in Boston in 1870. She called for women to unite against war and work together to promote peace. (See www.rediscovermothersday.org/). She failed, however, to get formal and national recognition of an official Mother's Day for Peace.
Several years before, West Virginia's Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis - an Appalachian homemaker and mother of 11 children - organized women to work together to improve sanitary conditions for the Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. She organized Mothers Day Work Clubs in local churches. She called on the women to help combat poor health and sanitation conditions in their communities that attributed to the high mortality rate of children. (Only four of her own children lived to adulthood.)
After teaching a Sunday School class on "The Mothers of the Bible," Ann Marie said a prayer that was overheard by her 12-year old daughter, Anna. She prayed: "I hope that someone, sometime will found a memorial mothers day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it."
When Ann Marie died in 1905, her daughter, Anna Jarvis--a school teacher who never married nor had children - desired to fulfill her mother's lifelong dream that all mothers, both living and dead, be honored annually. She worked hard to establish an official "memorial day for women," and also to bestow honor and dignity on women who were homemakers.
The first such Mother's Day took place in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908, in the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, (now United Methodist), where Anna's mother had taught Sunday School for two decades. Anna chose to honor her mother on that special day with carnations - her mother's favorite flower, and a flower Anna thought symbolized a mother's pure love.
Due to Anna's determination and persistence, by 1911, almost every state in the Union celebrated a "mother's day," and by 1912, the holiday was declared official by some states. The 1912 General Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church, at the suggestion of Andrews M.E. church delegates, recognized Anna Jarvis as the founder of the holiday. On May 8, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day to honor those mothers whose sons had died in war. He designated the second Sunday in May as the official annual date.
But less than a decade later, Anna Jarvis stated her disappointment that Mother's Day had become too commercial, and she lamented having ever started the tradition. She became one of the holiday's major opponents! Anna died on November 24, 1948, and was buried beside her mother at the West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.
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Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on May 9, 2008
Comments
My hope is that pastors would be more sensitive when promoting Mother's Day. There are women in their churches that for whatever reason can't have children, have had to give up children or have aborted their children. Parenting is difficult and some of us are not proud of how we raised our children, especially if they have denied their faith in God. Also, not everyone has good memories of their own mothers. Why is it assumed that every mother has sacrificed for their kids. There are some very disfuctional families out there. Yet, every year I prepare myself to hear how wonderful our mothers are and how they deserve our devotion. Granted we must honor them but I just wish they would be sensitive to those of us who do not have great memories of our mothers.
Posted by: Sylvia on May 7, 2010
It is my hope that some people would not be so self-centered and bitter that they would be able to allow one day a year for other's to honor their mothers. We are told to honor our mother and father in the Bible. We're talking one day a year. If you can't handle it, perhaps let the hundreds of others enjoy their one day, and stay home from church that day. It might be a good time to pray to end bitterness and to be able to forgive your parents.
I grew up in a very dysfunctional home, my mother never loved my sister or me. I decided early on to not carry on the cycles of alcoholism and violence to my own children. I had several miscarriages, and lost a baby boy at 20 weeks of pregnancy. I did end up with having 3 children, praise God. But even if I had not, it would NEVER cross my mind to begrudge the other mother's of having their one day a year of praise for the job that they do. It's time to grow up and get over being so sensitive and being so self-centered. There are lots of others who have worked very hard to raise their families, and they deserve the honor that God says they do. Jesus can help you to understand why your mother or parents were that way, and to be able to completely forgive them. I can't believe today's society and the need of every individual to think they are a special case, and because of that, everyone else should lose their enjoyment for their one day of recognition.
Posted by: Barbara on May 7, 2010
Oh My! I work in a Christian rehabilitation center and the women I work with want to avoid Christians and the Church because they are hurting. They are all at different levels of healing. I think that pastors need to be aware of where his people are in their relationship with God and their families. For the record, I too was very abused. I was the first in my family to come to know Christ as my Savior. Both my parents came to know Him a year later. My mother became my best friend and prayer partner. She passed away 10 years ago and I miss her dearly. I just want pastors to be aware that many ladies leave church crying.
Posted by: Sylvia on May 7, 2010