Mothers Day - The origin and history
There are different opinions about when Mothers Day first started and why we actually celebrate it. However, despite the difference of opinions, most agree that the earliest Mothers Day celebration first occurred in ancient Greece when Rhea, the mother of the ancient Greek gods, was honored.
In the 17th century, England started to celebrated “Mothering Sunday.” This name was derived from a custom where a special cake was baked, called a mothering cake, to take to visits to Mom. This is still currently celebrated in England and it is still called Mothering Sunday. It is celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent.
In the United States, the idea of Mothers Day was suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe. Howe (who is also known in history as the writer of the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic), thought Mothers Day should be dedicated to peace after she lived through all of the horrors of the Civil War in the United States. She wanted to have it celebrated to unite women against the war.
However, Anna Jarvis, who hailed from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the one who brought the official observance of Mothers Day to the United States. Miss Jarvis wanted to honor her own mother who died in 1905. The very first observance of Mothers Day was on May 10, 1908 both in Grafton, West Virginia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and it was a church service. Miss Jarvis was very moved by the church service and she began a campaign all across the United States to have it become a formal holiday in which all Moms would be honored. In 1914, this finally happened when President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed it as a national holiday to be celebrated on the second Sunday in the month of May.
Today, although a fairly commercial celebration with decorations, cards, bouquets of flowers and gifts, Mothers Day is celebrated all throughout the world. However, it is not celebrated at the same time. Because it has different origins in different cultures and countries, it is celebrated on different days. There are countries though such as Italy, Turkey, Denmark, Australia, Finland and Belgium which also celebrate it on the second Sunday of May, which is the same as in the United States. To read more about the different times of celebrations besides the ones on this page, there are many pages on the web that make that information known. Regardless of the specific time Mothers Day is celebrated, it is a time in which both kids and adults should be thankful and happy for their Mother, celebrate her life and love and honor her.