One
word comes to mind as the inspiration for the creation of Mother's Day.
And that word is "homesick."
Anna
Jarvis, who was born in Grafton, West Virginia in 1864 had moved to
Philadelphia later as an adult and lived there most of her life. You
know the cliche, "You can take the girl out of the country, but you
can't take the country out of the girl" applies in this
situation. (You can replace girl with boy also!) Although
she lived in a city, Anna longed for her West Virginia countryside, the
mountains and the family and friends she'd grown up with.
Anna
Jarvis' own mother was a role model of domestic nurturing and other
household responsibilities. She gave birth to 11 children and
endured through the death of 7 of them. In spite of all this
tragedy, she never lost her faith in God. She kept caring for her
children when they were ill, took care of her husband (who was a lot
older than she was) and sacrificed her dream of a college education due
to the poverty in her own life. When she died, Anna organized a
special service at the church in Grafton, W. VA to honor her mother and
all that she had endured and done.
Eventually
Anna decided that she wanted to honor her mother by honoring ALL mothers
with their own special day on the second Sunday in May.
She
did a letter-writing campaign that included politicians, newspaper
editors and church leaders. She also organized a committee known as
"The Mother's Day International Association" to promote this
new holiday.
Already
in existence was "Children's Day" (the 2nd Sunday in June) and
Anna knew this being a church Sunday school teacher (and
organist). Children's Day had been observed since 1870. She
wanted Mother's Day to be closer to Memorial Day, so that people would
remember the sacrifices their mothers had made for their families, just
like people also remembered the sacrifices their sons had made for their
country.
The
nation was changing also. Many sons and daughters no longer lived
on the farm with their parents or even stayed in the same town
anymore. So being "homesick" for their mothers and other
family and friends hit the hearts of many.
May,
1908 was the very first Mother's Day observance. President Wilson gave
the day national recognition in 1914 and by the late 1920's Mother's Day
became one of our countries most prominent holidays. But, Anna
Jarvis originally intended this holiday to be more of a church-related
one, slowly evolved between Christianity and commercialism.
Greeting card companies quickly jumped on Mother's Day, and it is now
the 4th largest card-buying holiday in the United States. Florists have
also jumped on this holiday as well.
Mother's
Day has also become a political platform today for various issues
involving women, justice, inequality and in some cases domestic
violence, emotional abuse, child abandonment; and, in the case of
divorces, child custody rights of a father over a mother at times.
Coretta Scott King (the wife of the slain Civil Rights leader Martin
Luther King) led a Mother's Day march in 1968 to support poor mothers
and their children.
The
National Organization for Women (NOW) in the 1970's used Mother's Day as
their spotlight for rallies to promote the Equal Rights Amendment and
access to better child care. In the 1980's, Helen Caldicott, the
founder of the Women's Party for Survival, used Mother's Day to stage
anti-nuclear demonstrations.
In
England, they celebrate Mothering Day, which is held on the 4th Sunday
during Lent. It's not the same and is often confused with Mother's
Day, which is now also celebrated in England as well as the United
States.
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