Happy Mother’s Day!
Did you ever wonder where the tradition of Mother’s Day came from?
American Social Activist Anna Jarvis popularized Mother’s Day after growing up attending her mother Anne Jarvis’ Mother’s Day Club, which was established to teach the importance of hygiene to women in rural West Virginia. Anna listened to her mother pray for the establishment of a holiday celebrating women and the services they provide to their families. In 1907, two years after Anne’s death, Anna began campaigning for the dedication of such a day. Anne got her wish in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day a nationally recognized holiday.
Eventually, companies began to see the profits to be made by commercializing Mother’s Day and introduced the holiday to other countries. The second Sunday in May is now considered “Mother’s Day” internationally.
One variation to the second Sunday in May occurs in the UK. Much of the UK still celebrates Mother’s Day on “Mothering Sunday,” the fourth Sunday in Lent; originating in the Middle Ages as a day in which parishioners were encouraged to visit their “mother church,” the church they first attended. It became a holiday where many returned home. Eventually, the US traditions intermingled with the British Mothering Sunday to make it a celebration of mothers rather than the mother church.
We hope you enjoyed this tidbit of history in the midst of your Mother's Day!
Comments