Where Did Mother’s Day Come From?
Posted by: Catherine Strawn
Filed in:
news
12:30PM, Wednesday May 6th 2009
We’ve been so busy giving you gift ideas and sharing lessons our moms taught us, we’ve forgotten the meaning of Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day became a U.S. holiday in 1914 after Anna Jarvis spent years sending letters to public officials urging them to set aside a day to honor mothers. Her own mother died in 1905. While Jarvis was happy when the day was recognized by President Woodrow Wilson, she became embittered by what it developed into over the years. “Mother’s Day has nothing to do with candy. Candy is junk. You give your mother a box of candy and then go home and eat most of it yourself, or else you give her hard candy that breaks her teeth or dentures. ... It’s really a shame to waste flowers for Mother’s Day. Florists have made millions of dollars out of my idea and they don’t deserve it.”
Instead of worrying about what to buy Mom during a last-minute shopping trip, why not spend the day with her or write a thoughtful note? But don’t use a printed greeting card. Jarvis disapproved of those, too. “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world.” [Newswise]
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misspixie
wrote on May 6 2009 @ 12:35 pm: [report]
This is the American mother’s day. The English Mother’s Day is descended from Mothering Sunday which is when traditionally when people went back to their “mother” church in their home town. It has now become the more commercial Mother’s Day which is similar to yours. This also explains why we celebrate ours a month or so before you do.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on May 6 2009 @ 12:44 pm: [report]
@misspixie: Yep we bastardize everything turning what was once good into a capitalistic holiday, shame on us.
Annika Harris
wrote on May 6 2009 @ 12:47 pm: [report]
She sounds bitter for sure.
Cherubina
wrote on May 6 2009 @ 01:14 pm: [report]
Isn’t it the thought that counts?
misspixie
wrote on May 6 2009 @ 02:15 pm: [report]
@Cheese - no bastardisation, it’s two separate holidays for the same reason BOTH now for commercial purposes. So you can’t point blame on either one. I got my Mum a very cool Mother’s Day card. She was most grateful :p
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on May 6 2009 @ 03:56 pm: [report]
@misspixie: I bought my mom a rosebush off of w00t. I’ll hand doodle a card.
writergirl
wrote on May 6 2009 @ 04:00 pm: [report]
Jarvis needed a man.
retro chic
wrote on May 6 2009 @ 05:02 pm: [report]
My Mom *loved* giving the most florid, corny, die-cut, ribboned, foil-stamped, flocked, embossed, vellum-lined and glittery cards to us kids that she painstakingly selected to speak of her gagging, semimental love affair with her children (plus a note, of course).
So, because that’s what *she* valued and loved, I gave her the same, plus another “gag” card to express something of me. When I became a mom, she returned the favor. What was once an eye-rolling tradition as kids, became an eye-welling one over the years. I loved those cards.
Jarvis would have agreed, I think.