Mother’s Day consists as an important day in the United States and in Union as we celebrate how important mothers truly prove. Everyone knows this holiday; however, many people likely do not know the history of Mother’s Day. In fact, this holiday proves quite ancient, and this history Mother’s Day serves as something everyone should know.
Like almost everything else in Western civilization, Mother’s Day goes back to ancient Greece and ancient Rome. These peoples celebrated the mother goddesses of Rhea and Cybele with festivals in their honor. In the early Christian tradition, people celebrated a festival known as “Mothering Sunday.” This festival became a tradition in Great Britain and Europe, occurring on the fourth Sunday in Lent; this originally meant that churchgoers would return to their home church for a special service, and eventually, this tradition molded into one less associated with religion as children began to give their mothers presents (“Mother’s Day 2022”). This tradition differs from American Mother’s Day.
American Mother’s Day, however, started in the 19th century in the few years before the Civil War. A woman named Ann Reeves Jarvis in West Virginia started a “Mothers’ Dar Work Club” that helped to teach women in the state proper childcare. After the Civil War, the divisions in this part of the country made conditions even more difficult for women in West Virginia, and in 1868, Jarvis helped to form a “Mothers’ Friendship Day.” On this day, mothers attempted to unite Union and Confederate veterans. Moreover, the suffragette Julia Ward Howard set up a “Mother’s Day Proclamation” in 1870. She wanted mothers to band together for work toward world peace, and later in the 1870s, Howe began advocating for a national celebration of a “Mother’s Peace Day” every year on June 2. Other female activists (and a man named Frank Hering, the so-called father of Mothers’ Day). By the 1900s, Anna Jarvis wanted to form a Mother’s Day holiday to honor mothers for all of their sacrifices, and after allying with John Wanamaker, they both held Mother’s Day celebrations simultaneously in May of 1908. These celebrations proved huge successes, and by 1912, Mother’s Day had spread across several states. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially made Mother’s Day a holiday with the holiday occurring on the second Sunday of each May. During the mid-20th century, civil rights’ and women’s groups used Mother’s Day to advocate for women, children, and greater equality between the sexes. (“Mother’s Day 2022”). Although Mother’s Day has become commercialized (and in some people’s opinion, this holiday proves too commercialized) and although many different iterations of this holiday exist, Union residents now know a brief history of Mother’s Day in the United States.
Along with getting mothers something thoughtful this Mother’s Day, Union residents now know a brief history of Mother’s Day from ancient times to the history of the holiday in the United States. For those who desire more information, one can easily Google the history of Mother’s Day to get a more detailed explanation because they can prove quite lengthy. Every holiday has a history, and Union residents can now reflect on the history of Mother’s Day this Sunday.
Send your Union community news to Matt Hennington at mch.2000@hotmail.com.
