Celebrating Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents Day.

The modern Mother's day began in the United States, at the initiative of Ann Reeves Jarvis in the early 20th century. This is not (directly) related to the many traditional celebrations of mothers and motherhood that have existed throughout the world over thousands of years, such as the Greek cult to Cybele, the Roman festival of Hilaria, or the Christian Mothering Sunday celebration (originally a commemoration of Mother Church, not motherhood). However, in some countries, Mother's Day is still synonymous with these older traditions.

The U.S.-derived modern version of Mother's Day has been criticized for having become too commercialized. Founder Jarvis herself regretted this extravagance commercialism and expressed views on how that was never her intention.

Establishment of holiday

The modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. St Andrew's Methodist Church now holds the International Mother's Day Shrine. Her campaign to make Mother's Day a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Ann Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War, and created Mother's Day Work Clubs to address public health issues. Anna Jarvis wanted to honor her mother by continuing the work she started and to set aside a day to honor all mothers because she believed a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world".

In 1908, the U.S. Congress rejected a proposal to make Mother's Day an official holiday, joking that they would also have to proclaim a "Mother-in-law's Day". However, owing to the efforts of Anna Jarvis, by 1911 all U.S. states observed the holiday, with some of them officially recognizing Mother's Day as a local holiday (the first being West Virginia, Jarvis' home state, in 1910). In 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother's Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.

Although Jarvis was successful in founding Mother's Day, she became resentful of the commercialization of the holiday. By the early 1920s, Hallmark Cards and other companies had started selling Mother's Day cards. Jarvis believed that the companies had misinterpreted and exploited the idea of Mother's Day, and that the emphasis of the holiday was on sentiment, not profit. As a result, she organized boycotts of Mother's Day, and threatened to issue lawsuits against the companies involved. Jarvis argued that people should appreciate and honor their mothers through handwritten letters expressing their love and gratitude, instead of buying gifts and pre-made cards. Jarvis protested at a candy makers' convention in Philadelphia in 1923, and at a meeting of American War Mothers in 1925. By this time, carnations had become associated with Mother's Day, and the selling of carnations by the American War Mothers to raise money angered Jarvis, who was arrested for disturbing the peace.

Dates around the world

While the United States holiday was adopted by some other countries, existing celebrations, held on different dates, honouring motherhood have become described as "Mother's Day", such as Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom or, in Greece, the Eastern Orthodox celebration of the presentation of Jesus Christ to the temple (2 February of Julian Calendar). Both the secular and religious Mother Day are present in Greece. Mothering Sunday is often referred to as "Mother's Day" even though it is an unrelated celebration.

In some countries, the date adopted is one significant to the majority religion, such as Virgin Mary Day in Catholic countries. Other countries selected a date with historical significance. For example, Bolivia's Mother's Day is the date of a battle in which women participated. See the "International history and tradition" section for the complete list.

Some ex-communist countries, such as Russia, celebrated International Women's Day instead of Mother's Day or simply celebrate both holidays, which is the custom in Ukraine. Kyrgyzstan has recently introduced Mother's Day, but "year on year [International Women's Day] is certainly increasing in status".

International history and tradition

In most countries, Mother's Day is an observance derived from the holiday as it has evolved in the United States, promoted by companies who saw benefit in making it popular. As adopted by other countries and cultures, the holiday has different meanings, is associated with different events (religious, historical or legendary), and is celebrated on different dates.

In some cases, countries already had existing celebrations honoring motherhood, and their celebrations then adopted several external characteristics from the US holiday, such as giving carnations and other presents to one's mother.

The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture.

References

1. L. James Grold (April 1968), "Mother's Day", American Journal of Psychiatry, 124: 1456–1458, Mother's Day, conceived by Anna Jarvis to honor unselfish mothers (...) Although there is no direct lineal descent to our modern Mother's Day custom, secular and religious motherhood have existed for thousands of years before 10 May 1908: the first church – St. Andrew's in Grafton, West Virginia – responded to her request for a Sunday service honoring mothers . Cybele (...)
2. Tuleja, Tad (1999), Curious Customs: The Stories Behind 296 Popular American Rituals, Galahad Books, p. 167, ISBN 9781578660704, Although attempts have been made to link Mother's Day to ancient cults of the mother goddess, especially the worship of Cybele, the association is more conceptual than historic. Mother's Day is a modern, American invention.
3. Robert J. Myers, Hallmark Cards (1972), Celebrations; the complete book of American holidays, Doubleday, p. 143, Our observance of Mother's Day is little more than half a century old [this was written in 1972], yet the nature of the holiday makes it seem as if it had its roots in prehistoric times. Many antiquarians, holiday enthusiasts, and students of folklore have claimed to find the source Mother's Day in the ancient spring festivals dedicated to the mother goddess, particularly the worship of Cybele.
4. Helsloot 2007, p. 208 "The American origin of the Day, however, was duly acknowledged. 'The idea is imported,. America led the way.'"
5. Mothering Sunday, BBC, retrieved 4 March 2010
6. "Mother's Day 2016: Which countries celebrate it on 8 May – and why?". The Independent. 8 May 2016.
7. Mother's Day 2017, The Daily Telegraph
8. CNN, Kendall Trammell,. "Mother's Day founder later came to regret it". CNN. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
9. O'Reilly, Andrea (6 April 2010). Encyclopedia of Motherhood. Sage Publications (CA). p. 602. ISBN 978-1-4522-6629-9. She organized the first official Mother's Day service at Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, on the morning of May 10, 1908. That same afternoon, 15,000 people attended a Mother's Day service at the Wanamaker Store Auditorium in Philadelphia, which she also organized. Jarvis chose the second Sunday in May for Mother's Day to mark the anniversary of her mother's death and selected her mother's favorite flower, the white carnation, as the day's official emblem.
10. "Engaging Families - U.S. Department of Education". www2.ed.gov. 14 December 2017.
11. Panati, Charles (2016). Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. Book Sales. p. 59. ISBN 9780785834373.
12. Antolini, Katharine Lane (2010). "Jarvis, Anna". Encyclopedia of Motherhood. SAGE. p. 602. ISBN 9781412968461.
13. Connie Park Rice; Marie Tedesco (15 March 2015). Women of the Mountain South: Identity, Work, and Activism. Ohio University Press. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-0-8214-4522-8.
14. Lois M. Collins (6 May 2014). "Mother's Day 100-year history a colorful tale of love, anger and civic unrest". Deseret News.
15. "Hallmark celebrates 100th year of Mother's Day, started by a woman who grew to despise it". kansas.com.
16. Sources for Bolivia:
"27 de mayo: madres que inspiran valentía". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 27 May 2009. Archived from the original on 11 June 2009.
"El Día de la Madre se nutre con la Virgen", La Razón (La Paz) (in Spanish), 27 May 2006, archived from the original on 5 November 2008
17. Robert A. Saunders; Vlad Strukov (2010), Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Historical dictionaries of French history, 78 (illustrated ed.), Scarecrow Press, p. 246, ISBN 9780810854758
18. "About International Women's Day". International Women's Day.