Mother's Day is
a time of commemoration and celebration for Mom. It is a time of breakfast in
bed, family gatherings, and crayon scribbled "I Love You"s.
The earliest
Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of
ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's,
England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the
4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter*), "Mothering
Sunday" honored the mothers of England.
During this
time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs
were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of
their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and
were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special
cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a
festive touch.
As
Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother
Church" - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them
from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration
. People began honoring
their mothers as well as the church.
In the United
States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who
wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace.
Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year.
In 1907 Ana
Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national
Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia
to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the
2nd Sunday of May. By the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in
Philadelphia.
Ms. Jarvis and
her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in
their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911
Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in
1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national
holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
While many
countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times
throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy,
Turkey, Australia, and Belgium which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second
Sunday of May.