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The History of Mother’s Day!

I wanted to do something different for  Mother’s Day -  I hope you enjoy, I know I learned a lot.

Celebrating motherhood is a historical tradition dating back almost as far as mothers themselves.   A number of ancient cultures paid tribute to mothers as goddesses, including the ancient Greek, who celebrated Rhea, the mother of all Gods.

Rhea, Mother of All Gods

One of the earliest historical records of a society celebrating a Mother deity can be found among the ancient Egyptians, who held an annual festival to honor the goddess Isis, who was commonly regarded as the Mother of the pharaohs.

Isis, Mother of the Pharaoh's

So the story goes, after Isis’ brother-husband Osiris was slain and dismembered in 13 pieces by their jealous brother Seth, Isis re-assembled Osiris’ body and used it to impregnate herself. She then gave birth to Horus, whom she was forced to hide amongst the reeds lest he be slaughtered by Seth. Horus grew up and defeated Seth, and then became the first ruler of a unified Egypt. Thus Isis earned her stature as the Mother of the pharaohs.

Yet the Roman root of Mother’s Day is perhaps more precisely found in the celebration of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, or Magna Mater (Great Mother).

Cybele, Great Mother

The Roman celebration of Magna Mater fell between March 15 and March 22, just around the same time as the Greek festival in honor of Rhea. Referred to as Hilario, games were held in honor of the Mother of the gods.  Also customary was a procession through the streets with a statue of the goddess carried at the head,  followed by a display of elaborate arts and crafts.

In the 1600′s a clerical decree in England broadened the celebration to include real Mothers, earning the name Mothering Day.  Mothering Day became an especially compassionate holiday toward the working classes of England.  During this Lenten Sunday,  servants and trade workers were allowed to travel back to their towns of origin to visit their families.

Mothering Day in UK

Mothering Day also provided a one-day reprieve from the fasting and penance of Lent so that families across England could enjoy a sumptuous family feast—Mother was the guest of honor.  Mothers were presented with cakes and flowers, as well as a visit from their beloved and distant children.

HISTORY OF AMERICAN CELEBRATION

When the first English settlers came to America, they discontinued the tradition of Mothering Day.  While the British holiday would live on, the American Mother’s Day would be invented—with an entirely new history—centuries later.  One explanation for the settlers’ discontinuation of Mothering Day was that they just didn’t have time; they lived under harsh conditions and were forced to work long hours in order to survive.

Another possibility, however,  is that Mothering Day conflicted with their Puritan ideals.  Fleeing England to practice a more conservative Christianity without being persecuted, the pilgrims ignored the more secular holidays,  focusing instead on a no-frills devotion to God.  For example, even holidays such as Christmas and Easter were much more somber occasions for the pilgrims, usually taking place in a Church that was stripped of all extraneous ornamentation.

The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe’s  Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870.  Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic 12 years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on Mother’s to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mothers.

Julia Ward Howe

In 1873  women’s  groups in 18 North American cities observed this new Mother’s holiday.   Howe initially funded many of these celebrations,  but most of them died out once she stopped footing the bill.   The city of Boston, however, would continue celebrating Howe’s holiday for 10 more years.

A West Virginia women’s group (Mother’s Work Day Club) led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday.  In order to re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War, the group held a Mother’s Friendship Day.

Anna Reeves Jarvis and Daughter

Anna Reeves Jarvis helped spearhead the national movement of activist motherhood.   She aided BOTH sides of the Civil War with camp sanitation and medical care, promoted universal access of medicine to the poor, and organized Mother’s Work Day Clubs in 1858.

After Anna Reeves Jarvis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace.

In 1908, Anna petitioned the superintendent of the church where her Mother had spent over 20 years teaching Sunday School.  Her request was honored,  and on May 10, 1908,  the first official Mother’s Day celebration took place at Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Anna Jarvis quit working and devoted herself full time to the creation of Mother’s Day, endlessly petitioning state governments, business leaders, women groups, churches and other institutions and organizations.   She finally convinced the World’s Sunday School Association to back her,  a key influence over state legislators and congress.

In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to officially recognize Mother’s Day, and in 1914  Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance,  declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

I learned a lot today on this subject and I’m glad I wrote this…  I wish I could tell my Mom “Happy Mother’s Day” today and every other day.    She is gone of this world and I’m 100% sure she is happy being back in her lovers arms, my Dad!

To all you Mothers,   please have a GREAT day and take this one day and be specially nice to yourself,  you deserve it.

Flowers from my Heart to You!

Cathy C

XOXOXOXO