Mother's Day – Sunday May 8th
Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May each year (USA), celebrates motherhood and maternal bonds.
The campaign to make Mother’s Day a recognised holiday began in 1908, led by Anna Jarvis, whose own mother, Ann, passed away that year. Anna held a memorial for her mother at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, which still houses the international Mother’s Day shrine.
Ann Reeves Jarvis was a peace activist, who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War. She also formed Mother’s Day work clubs to address public health issues.
Anna Jarvis wanted to honor and continue the good work her mother had begun, by setting aside a day to honor all mothers. It took three years of Anna’s hard work for US Congress to pass the proposal to make Mother’s Day an official holiday in 1911.
In 1914, the 28th US President, Woodrow Wilson, signed a proclamation designating Mother’s Day, held on the second Sunday in May as the national holiday to honor mothers.
In a turn of events, Anna, even though successful in founding Mother’s Day, began organized boycotts of the holiday and threatened to issue lawsuits against companies who, in her view, were capitalizing and exploiting the holiday.
The sole purpose of this holiday, as Anna had envisioned it, was based on sentiment and appreciation of mothers through handwritten letters of love and gratitude, not through the purchase of candy and similar commercial products. Anna was arrested after protesting at a meeting of American War Mothers in 1925, who were raising money through the sale of carnations. Anna did continue to promote Mother’s Day throughout her life, but was unsuccessful in thwarting what she considered commercialization of the day.
Whatever you beliefs are with regards to Mother’s Day, taking the time to thank and show appreciation to the mother figure in your life will be no doubt be welcomed!
Source: Wikipedia/ UMG.org