Mother’s Day celebrates and honors mothers for their parenting and role-model qualities. The holiday has been officially celebrated for over a century in the United States, but its history goes beyond that. The holiday is celebrated worldwide in unique and special ways for each family and country.
What is Mother’s Day, and how is it celebrated? Continue reading to learn more.
History
Mother’s Day in the United States was proposed over a century ago but with a slightly different sentiment and celebration. National Today, a website dedicated to recording holidays, cites American author Julia Ward Howe as writer of the first “Mother’s Day Proclamation.” She advocated for the holiday by “asking women to fight for world peace following both the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War.” Unfortunately, she was not successful during her lifetime, but she set the holiday in motion for the future.
Ann Reeves Jarvis, a social activist during the Civil War, laid the foundations for the holiday for her daughter to inherit. The BBC, a British news organization, reports that Jarvis was “very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, where.” They add that “from 1858, she ran Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to combat high infant and child mortality rates.” Her daughter, Anna Jarvis, wanted to fulfill her late mother’s wish and altered the holiday to honor mothers. The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in the Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton three years after Ann Reeves Jarvis’ death. It grew in popularity and was made an official national holiday in 1914.
Old & New Traditions
Originally, the holiday was created to only celebrate mothers, but eventually, that changed along with older traditions. Britannica, the world’s oldest continuously published encyclopedia, notes that white carnation flowers were chosen as “a tribute to one’s mother.” Eventually, the “custom developed of wearing a red or pink carnation to represent a living mother.” The holiday soon “expanded to include others, such as grandmothers and aunts, who played mothering roles.” Greeting cards, flowers, and candies were present from the holiday’s inception and continue to be a common tradition. Newer traditions include homemade meals, dinners, taking over chores, and self-care practices. At present, the holiday continues to honor all mothers everywhere.
Different Cultural Traditions
All cultures celebrate mothers differently, yet spending time with one’s mother and honoring her interests remains prevalent. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), a non-commercial television network, notes Peru’s tradition of visiting cemeteries and cherishing late loved ones. Scholastic, a multimedia publishing company, mentions Ethiopia’s meals and dance performances for family members. These are a few examples of how the rest of the world honors and thinks highly of mothers with their unique celebrations and traditions.
Happy Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day has been a prominent holiday for over a century because of mothers like Julia Ward Howe and Ann Reeves Jarvis. Mothers were originally celebrated for their contribution to everyday life and society, but eventually, it honored mothers for their parenting roles. All mothers, late or living, continue to be celebrated in unique traditions since the beginning of the holiday and celebrate their importance.
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