Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a widely celebrated occasion in the United States, occurring annually on the second Sunday in May. This day is dedicated to honoring mothers and maternal figures, with children expressing their appreciation through gifts like flowers, candy, cards, and visits. The concept of a day to honor mothers has ancient roots, with festivals in ancient Greece and Rome, and Christian observances dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The modern iteration of Mother's Day in the U.S. was largely shaped by Anna M. Jarvis, who sought to create a national day of recognition following her mother's death in 1907. Her efforts gained traction, leading to the first official Mother's Day service in 1908 and the eventual proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. The celebration has since evolved, with customs including church services and personal expressions of gratitude. Despite its commercialization in later years, Mother's Day remains a significant occasion for family gatherings and reflections on the mother-child bond across various cultures.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Mother's Day
Mother's Day
This is a movable event
Every year Americans set aside the second Sunday in May to pay tribute to their mothers. Across the land, children of all ages use the occasion to honor their mothers with tokens of appreciation such as flowers and candy, or with more personal expressions of affection, such as cards, telephone calls, and visits. The day, which provides an excellent opportunity for remembering mothers and expressing gratitude to them, is one of the most widely celebrated holidays of the year.
Americans are not alone in honoring their mothers on a special day; nor did they originate the idea. Both the ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals to pay tribute to mothers, and Christians during the Middle Ages honored Mary, the mother of Jesus, with appropriate observances every year. In England, the fourth Sunday in Lent was celebrated as Mothering Sunday, and in Yugoslavia, a similar event was traditionally held shortly before Christmas season; on their respective holidays Britons and Slavs visited their mothers and brought them small gifts.
In comparison with these early European observances, the establishment of a similar holiday in the United States is of relatively recent origin. During the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe, the author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” suggested that July 4 be renamed Mother's Day and urged that the occasion be used for promoting peace. Howe's idea was never put into effect, but shortly after the end of the Civil War, Anna Reeves Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia, began to work for a similar holiday. In 1868, Jarvis organized a committee in her home town to sponsor a Mother's Friendship Day. The object of this observance was to reunite families that had been divided during the Civil War. Mother's Friendship Day allegedly brought together a number of brothers who had formerly fought against one another, but Jarvis's dream of an annual “memorial mother's day, commemorating [each mother] for the service she renders to humanity in every field” did not gain widespread acceptance during her lifetime.
Others also showed an early interest in establishing Mother's Day. In 1887, Mary Towles Sasseen, a teacher in Henderson, Kentucky, organized a special musical affair to honor her pupils' mothers. This tribute became an annual event in her classes, but she did not content herself with the success of this celebration. Until her death in 1916, Sasseen worked unceasingly to popularize such recognition of mothers. In 1893, she published a pamphlet describing her classroom ceremonies and for years she traveled across the nation urging other educators to adopt similar observances in their schools.
While Sasseen was promoting her plan, Frank E. Herring of South Bend, Indiana, also took up the cause of establishing Mother's Day. In an address to his fellow members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1904, Herring suggested that mothers be honored throughout the nation on a special day every year.
Although the previously mentioned people have justly been given credit for their contributions to the establishment of Mother's Day, Anna M. Jarvis, daughter of Anna Reeves Jarvis, was most directly responsible for organizing the observance in the United States. On May 9, 1907, the second anniversary of her mother's death, she invited friends to her home in Philadelphia. At this gathering, she outlined her plan for making her mother's dream of a nationwide day in honor of mothers, living and deceased, a reality. The following year she carried out her hope. On May 10, 1908, the second Sunday of the month, church services in which mothers were honored were held in both Grafton, West Virginia, and in Philadelphia.
The 1908 observance was only the beginning of Jarvis's efforts. For years, she worked diligently to popularize her idea. She wrote hundreds of letters to church and business leaders, newspaper editors, and members of Congress, and she even brought the need for a Mother's Day observance to the attention of the president of the United States. Jarvis's single-minded labors were rewarded. In 1910, the governor of West Virginia issued the first Mother's Day proclamation, and by 1911 Mother's Day services were held in all the states of the Union. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, responding to a joint resolution of Congress, issued a proclamation setting aside the second Sunday in May “for displaying the American Flag, and as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”
Mother's Day quickly won popular acceptance both at home and abroad. In the United States and in many foreign nations, church services patterned after those held in 1908, as well as personal expressions of appreciation to mothers, became customary on the second Sunday in May. Many persons also observed the custom of wearing carnations on the occasion, a custom which has fallen into disuse. In 1934, the post office further commemorated Mother's Day by issuing a three-cent stamp depicting the famed portrait of James Whistler's mother.
Meanwhile, Jarvis continued her efforts to make Mother's Day truly an occasion on which children would show their appreciation to their mothers. In return for her work, she won numerous honors. She was a delegate to the World Sunday School Convention in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1913; she spoke before many noteworthy groups; and Japan acclaimed her Mother's Day idea “a great American gift.” However, as commercialization began to encroach upon the observance of the day, she became embittered. She initiated lawsuits against those seeking profits from Mother's Day, and when these failed, she turned away from the world. Within a short time she lost her property, and her blind sister Elsinore, to whom she had devoted her life, died. In the face of such misfortune, her own health failed, and in November 1944, she was forced to ask for public assistance. Realizing her desperate plight, some friends came to her aid and provided funds so that she might spend her final years in a private sanatorium in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Deaf and nearly blind, the woman whose efforts had brought happiness to countless mothers died in 1948.
Days to honor mothers are celebrated in many countries. In the United States, the president and the governors of many states issued proclamations declaring the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day. Observances of the day of course center around the family. Many churches hold special services on Mother's Day, and sermons are generally based on themes indicating the unique bond between mother and child.
Bibliography
Donnelly, Grace, and Alex Scimecca. "The History of Mother's Day: How an Antiwar Protest Became a Commercial Holiday." Fortune, 11 May 2018, fortune.com/2018/05/11/mothers-day-history/. Accessed 25 June 2018.
Handwerk, Brian. "7 Things You Didn't Know about Mother's Day's Dark History." National Geographic, 10 May 2017, news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150507-mothers-day-history-holidays-anna-jarvis/. Accessed 25 June 2018.
"History of Mother's Day." National Women's History Project, www.nwhp.org/resources/commemorations/history-of-mothers-day/. Accessed 1 May 2024.
Phillips, Kristine. "The Woman Who Invented Mother's Day Would Absolutely Hate What It Is Today." The Washington Post, 14 May 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/05/14/the-woman-who-invented-mothers-day-would-absolutely-hate-what-it-is-today/. Accessed 25 June 2018.
Waxman, Olivia B. "The Surprisingly Sad Origins of Mother's Day." Time, 25 Apr. 2018, time.com/4771354/mothers-day-history-origins/. Accessed 1 May 2024.