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.
In the
United States, celebration of Mother's Day began in the early 20th century. It is not related to the many celebrations of mothers and motherhood that have occurred 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).
[1][2][3][4] However, in some countries, Mother's Day has become synonymous with these older traditions.
[5]
The U.S.-derived modern version of Mother's Day has been criticized (even early on, by its founder Anna Jarvis.[6][7]) for having become too commercialized.
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.
[8] 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".
[9]
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".
[10] However, owing to the efforts of Anna Jarvis, by 1911 all U.S. states observed the holiday,
[11] with some of them officially recognizing Mother's Day as a local holiday
[12] (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.
[13]
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.
[14] 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.
[13] 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.
