Early "Mother's Day" in the U.S. was mostly marked by women's peace groups. In 1868 Ann Jarvis created a committee to establish a "Mother's Friendship Day",whose purpose was "to reunite famlies that had been divided during the Civil War, and wanted to expand it into an annual memorial for mothers, but she died in 1905 before the celebration became popular.
In its form, Mothers Day was established by Anna Marie Jarvis, following the death of her mother on May 9, 1905., with the help of a Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker. In May 7, 1907 in the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grefton, West Virginia, where Anna's mother had been teaching Sunday school. But, the first "official" service was in May 10, 1908 in the same church. She then campaigned to establish Mother's Day as a U.S. national holiday and later as an international holiday.
The holiday was declared officially by the state of West Virginia in 1910, and the rest of the states followed quickly. On May 8, 1914, the U.S. Congress passed a law designiating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and requesting a proclamation. On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation, declaring the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose son's had died in war.
In 1934, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved a stamp commemorating the holiday. In May, 2008, the U.S. House of Representative voted twice on a resolution commemorating Mother's Day, the first one being unanimous so that all congressmen would be on record showing support for Mother's Day. The Grafton's Church, where the first celebration was held, is now the International Mother's Day Shrine and is a National Historic Landmark.
This year Mother's Day is celabrated on May 9, 2010. I am wishing all you moms a very nice Mother's Day and please don't forget your mother's. If you know of a mother that has lost her children or has out lived them, please help her out with some flowers and a card, thank you.
19 comments:
Thank you so much Margaret, I think this is a lovely bit of Mother's Day history. Have a great week.
Thanks Margaret for this intresting information. We here celebrate Mothers day in March. a few years ago I was in The States on Mothers' Day as it was the day after my birthday, had a lovely time.
Take care.
Yvonne.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
My older sister has lost two daughters in the past year to cancer. This Mother's Day will be so hard for her. Thank you for reminding me ahead of time so that I can try to make her day a little easier in some special way.
Thats a beautiful thought Margaret :)
Thanks for sharing such an insightful post..no relationship can be greater among humans than that of a mother and her child..lovely post!
What an interesting post! I did not know all of this! Happy Mother's Day to you, Margret!
Margaret,
Such an interesting post, thanks for writing it. :)
Before Mother's Day, I have my Mom's 80th Birthday this Friday (April 30). Busy time of year for us. Mother's Day we typically have a cookout - my parents live next door to us. :)
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Happy Mother's Day (early) Margaret!
Good evening Margaret, very interesting article.
Our only son was born on May 10th. a Friday and I went home from the hospital on Sunday May 12th, which was Mother's Day. We didn't have any insurance, Abe had just been discharged from the Army, so they let me leave early. Our first daughter didn't turn one until June 1st. Now that's close in age, the third baby, another daughter came the following year, Chris was 1 on May 10th, Angela 2 on June 1st. and Melinda was born on July 5th.
Have a great week, how are your pets doing?
Yep, it is that time of year again and we will have to celebrate. Happy mothers day to all of the mothers out there.
I knew it had a beginning somewhere... just didn't know how. Neat information!
Hi Margaret:)
Greetings and good wishes:)
Very informative and well researched post. Lovely photo.
Now Mothers day is celebrated in India also but mostly in cities where educated and working people live. In rural areas it is not so popular.
As far as I know Mothers day here is more popular than Fathers day. Mothers definitely need more recognition and appreciation for the tremendous and selfless work they do for children.
Best wishes:)
Joseph
Dear Margaret ~~ Thank you for this post about Mother's Day. It's
a sad day when you have no mother
to share it with. Thank you for your comments and I am glad you enjoyed The Parent's poem and the
I Believes and the Ocean View
restaurant was so clever.
Take great care, my friend,
Love, Merle.
Happy Mother's Day to you, too, Margaret. I'll be walking in the Breast Cancer walk next Sunday. I hope it doesn't rain. Have a wonderful day.
Hi again Margaret ~~ I am glad you enjoyed the dog pics and joke, and John's Senior Health Solution and
the other jokes and the quotes.
Take good care, my friend,
Love, Merle.
Very nice, informative and interesting post. I got good knowledge through your post which I was not knowing. Thanks a lot for sharing with all of us. Mother's Day is a very very special day infact every day is a Mother's Day and there is no need to celebrate just once in a year. Mother is always sweet and special.
Happy Mom's Day to you Margaret. My children won't be home for Mother's Day but I will be going to my Mom's for the day. We will have a cookout and my sister and sister-in-law will plant all her annual flowers for her since she can't do it anymore. xoxo
Very interesting history on Mother's day. I have to agree with Joseph, I think it is a shame that Father's Day isn't as popular though. Sure wish you a very Happy Mother's Day Margaret.
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