Mother's Day

“And I realized when you look at your mother; you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.” 
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a modern celebration honoring one's own mother, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. It was first celebrated in March it complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Father's Day and Siblings Day.

The celebration of Mother's Day began in the United States in the early 20th century; it is not related to the many celebrations of mothers and motherhood that have occurred throughout the world over thousands of years, such as the Greek cult to Cybele, the Roman festival of Hilaria, or the Christian Mothering Sunday celebration (originally a celebration of the mother church, not motherhood). Despite this, in some countries, Mother's Day has become synonymous with these older traditions

The modern American holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, which now holds the International Mother's Day Shrine. Her campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her beloved mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Anna's mission was to honor her own mother by continuing work she started and to set aside a day to honor mothers, "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world". Anna's mother, Ann Jarvis, was a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War and created Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address public health issues.

In 1908, the US Congress rejected a proposal to make an official holiday, among jokes that they would have to proclaim also a "Mother-in-law's Day". Due to the campaign efforts of Anna Jarvis, by 1911 all US states observed the holiday, with some of them officially recognizing Mother's Day as a local holiday, the first in 1910 being West Virginia, Jarvis' home state. In 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation creating Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.

Although Jarvis was successful in founding Mother's Day, she soon became resentful of the commercialization and was angry that companies would profit from the holiday. By the early 1920s, Hallmark and other companies started selling Mother's Day cards. Jarvis became so embittered by what she saw as misinterpretation and exploitation that she protested and even tried to rescind Mother's Day. The holiday that she had worked so hard for was supposed to be about sentiment, not about profit. Jarvis' intention for the holiday had been for people to appreciate and honor mothers by writing a personal letter, by hand, expressing love and gratitude, rather than buying gifts and pre-made cards. Jarvis organized boycotts and threatened lawsuits to try to stop the commercialization. She crashed a candy makers' convention in Philadelphia in 1923. Two years later she protested at a confab of the American War Mothers, which raised money by selling carnations; the flower associated with Mother's Day, and was arrested for disturbing the peace.

Jarvis' holiday was adopted by other countries and it is now celebrated all over the world.

It is a time to honor mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers for their contribution to family and society. Since it is not a federal holiday, businesses may be open or closed as any other Sunday.

Here is a Beautiful song for your mother…

Thank You Mom

(Lyrics & Music: Good Charlotte)

I'm sitting here, I'm thinking back to a time when I was young,
My memory is clear as day, I'm listening to the dishes clink,
You were downstairs; you would sing songs of praise,
And all the times we laughed with you,
And all the times that you stayed true to us,
Now we say, I said, I thank you,
I'll always thank you,
More than you could know,
Than I could ever show,
And I love you, I'll always love you,
There's nothing I won't do to say these words to you,
That you're beautiful forever,
You were my mom,
You were my dad,
The only thing I ever had was you, It's true,
And even when the times got hard you were there,
To let us know that we'd get through, you showed me how to be a man,
You taught me how to understand the things people do,
You showed me how to love my God,
You taught me that not everyone knows the truth,
And I thank you,
I'll always thank you,
More than you could know,
Than I could ever show,
And I love you, I'll always love you,
There's nothing I won't do to say these words to you,
That you will live forever, always