The Real Story of Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is a time of flowers, trendy brunches and thanks to Mom for what she has endured all these years. But once the holiday was darker: women could mourn the fallen soldiers and strive for peace.
The modern version of Mother’s Day in the United States is not the first holiday in the world dedicated to mothers and motherhood. Such festivals date back at least to the ancient Greeks and Romans, when the festivals were held in honor of the goddesses Cybele and Rhea . However, these centuries-old celebrations – and others like the Christian holiday of Mother’s Sunday – really have nothing to do with Mother’s Day as we have it now.
The true origins date back to the years leading up to the US Civil War , when a woman named Anne Reeves Jarvis helped found Mother’s Day Workers’ Clubs in West Virginia. Their goal was to reduce infant mortality by teaching local women how to care for their children, improve sanitation and fight disease. When war finally broke out in 1861, groups began to heal the wounds of soldiers on both sides. By 1868, after the end of the civil war, Jarvis had transformed the organization into a peace-oriented movement called Mothers’ Friendship Day, which involved uniting former Union and Confederate soldiers for reconciliation. Jarvis, often referred to as “Mother Jarvis,” wrote :
“Why don’t the mothers of humanity interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of human life, which they bear and know the price?”
Around the same time, other women across the country organized their early Mother’s Days. Abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe wrote Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 urging all mothers to unite and promote world peace. She later campaigned for a holiday called Mother’s Peace Day, which would be celebrated every June 2. And Juliet Calhoun Blakely, a sobriety activist from Michigan, inspired the local Mother’s Day to be celebrated there in the 1870s.
But it wasn’t until the early 1900s that Mother’s Day was nationally recognized. Anna Jarvis, daughter of Anne Reeves Jarvis, pushed for the celebration after her mother’s death in 1905 , wanting to celebrate all the sacrifices mothers make to their children. In 1908, Jarvis found financial support to hold an official Mother’s Day celebration at a church in West Virginia. At the same time, the celebration took place at a retail store in Philadelphia that was owned by Jarvis’ financial backer.
It was a sensation, so Jarvis decided to make it her goal to add the holiday to the national calendar. By 1912, Jarvis had quit her job and founded the International Mother’s Day Association , which formed partnerships with local businesses and campaigned to write letters to government officials. It worked. In cities and churches in several states, Mother’s Day became an annual holiday, and by 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made it an official holiday in 1914 .
Unfortunately, the holiday quickly became commercial. In fact, Jarvis has come to hate the celebration she has championed all her life. She had no control over the holiday, and by 1920 she had done all 180 . For Jarvis, this day should have been about sentiment, not making money. She turned her back on the local businesses that helped her and began to convince people not to buy flowers, cards, and other gifts for her mom. She called everyone who tried to cash in on the holiday, “charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and termites who, with their greed, would undermine them, one of the most beautiful, noble and true movements and holidays.” She fought against charities that used Mother’s Day to raise funds, she was arrested for disturbing public order when she tried to stop the sale of carnations, and there are even stories of how she ordered “Mother’s Day Salad” at a restaurant and then poured him on the floor before walking out in annoyance.
In the end, Jarvis even tried to cancel Mother’s Day entirely . In the last years of her active life, she went door to door, asking for signatures on the petition and the cancellation of Mother’s Day. She would rather have him completely disappear than become the engine of corporate greed.
On this Mother’s Day, focus on what the holiday really is: honor the work your mother has done and all the sacrifices she has made to you. If possible, spend time with your mom or call her. Gifts are good, but be sure to show her true love with your feelings.