I looked at some websites dealing with the origins of Mother’s Day and decided to summarize some of the information I found on a website called legacyproject.org. The Mother’s Day we celebrate in America today is traced back to the efforts of an unmarried woman who had no children. Her name was Anna Jarvis. It all started because of the work of her mother, Ann Marie Jarvis.
In the 1850’s Ann Marie Jarvis organized some “Mothers Day Work Clubs” (later called “Mothers Friendship Clubs”) in the West Virginia region. She had given birth to 12 children, but she had lost 8 of them under the age of seven. Consequently, she wanted to fight the poor health and sanitation that was contributing to the death of many children. The clubs provided medicine for those in poverty and nursing care for the ill and arranged for help for those suffering from tuberculosis.
When the Civil War began, “Mother Jarvis” called a meeting of four of her clubs and asked them to promise that their friendship would not become a casualty of the war dividing the states. The clubs showed their compassion and friendship by nursing soldiers on both sides of the conflict.
After the Civil War, Mother Jarvis was a peacemaker, urging families to forget differences created by the war. In the year 1868 she organized a day called “Mothers Friendship Day,” a day to unite families divided by the war. Part of her stated purpose was to “brighten the lives of good mothers . . . By words, gifts, acts of affection, and in every way possible, give her pleasure, and make her heart glad every day, and constantly keep in memory Mother’s Day.” Mothers Friendship Days were observed several times after the one in 1868.
When Ann Marie Jarvis died in 1905, her daughter Anna took to heart the words her mother had said: “I hope that someone, sometime, will found a Memorial Mothers Day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.” At her mother’s grave Anna made a pledge in response: “The time and place is here and the someone is your daughter, and by the grace of God, you shall have that Mother’s Day.” Anna gave credit to her mother as the one who originated Mother’s Day.
In 1907 Anna began to fulfill her pledge. She gathered some friends in her home, in memory of her mother. At the meeting she announced her desire to have a national day designated to honor mothers. In 1908, Anna succeeded in persuading her mother’s church in West Virginia to celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May, the anniversary of her mother’s death. All mothers were to be honored that day, and her mother’s work to encourage peace and fight poverty were to be remembered. Mother’s Day was also observed in Philadelphia that year.
Anna and her followers wrote to clergymen, businessmen, and politicians to push the establishment of a national Mother’s Day. It was observed in nearly every state by 1911. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day a national holiday to be observed on the second Sunday of May.
Anna incorporated herself as the Mother’s Day International Association. She began to work toward getting other nations to join in celebrating Mother’s Day.
In America a custom was begun of wearing a colored carnation on Mother’s Day if your mother was still alive, or a white one if she was deceased. On Mother’s Day people went to church, wrote to their mothers, and spent time together.
Then the life of Anna Jarvis took a very sad turn. Little by little, the emphasis of Mother’s Day shifted to purchasing cards, gifts, and flowers. The price of carnations jumped, and Anna criticized the florists, calling them “profiteers.” She was outraged at the commercialization of Mother’s Day. In 1923 she filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother’s Day festival. She was arrested for protesting at a war mothers’ convention where carnations were being sold to raise money. She said she wanted a day of “sentiment, not profit.” In a care home years later she told a reporter that she wished she had never started Mother’s Day. Yet on Mother’s Day she would receive thousands of cards and letters from around the world. She died in 1948, after reaching the age of 84. From the website of news.nationalgeographic.com, I discovered that Anna had spent her sizable inheritance on fighting the commercialization of Mother’s Day and died penniless. Another interesting fact, which I uncovered at the mothersdaycentral.com website, is that, although Anna didn’t know it, it was actually The Florist’s Exchange that paid for her care in her final days.
****************************************************************************************************
From my own perspective, perhaps Anna over-reacted to the commercialization. Although it isn’t right for businesses to have greed as their motive in the celebration, I don’t think buying cards, gifts, and flowers is all bad. Judging from her mother’s comments about her own dream of Mother’s Day, we can assume that her mother was not opposed to the idea of children blessing their mothers with gifts on that day. But I do believe Anna was right in feeling that some well-chosen words of your own and spending time together is an important part of Mother’s Day. Maybe all people should write letters to their mothers at least once in their lives, telling their mothers what they mean to them and thanking them for the sacrifices they have made. I wish now that I had done that for my own mother. When buying a card, no matter how beautiful and well written the card may be, I think it is likely that adding a special personal note will make the card even more meaningful.
Leave A Comment