My curiosity got me yesterday. I really didn’t know anything about Mother’s Day, and in my search for information about its origins, the Google search alone listed 21,700,000 results.
“It all began with the ancient Egyptians” according to www.mothersdaycentral.com, “who held an annual festival to celebrate the Mother Deity Isis. She is historically also considered to be the mother of the Pharaohs.”
The research lists the Romans’ three-day celebration of the Feast of Isis to commemorate a certain battle and the beginning of winter and also their Festival of the Phrygian Goddess Cybele or Magna Mater, the great Mother.
The Greeks had a similar deity, Rhea. Other similar societies worshipped Gala the Earth Goddess or Meter Oreie, the Mountain Goddess.
Early European Christians had a day when they honored the “mother church” in which they were baptized. That took placedaround Lent (40 days of fasting prior to Easter.)
In the 1600s, the Clerics of England expanded the day of celebration to include real mothers, and so started “Mothering Day.” Cakes, flowers and visits from beloved and distant children, according to the website, were favorite ways to honor mom.
On the more than 400 websites listed by Google about the origins of Mother’s Day, the Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 is said to have been idea of Julia Ward Howe. The author of the Battle Hymn of the Repubic 12 years earlier, she had “become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on mothers to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of “their sons killing the sons of other mothers” in war.
Howe wrote the following, calling for an international Mother’s Day to celebrate peace and motherhood:
“In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions.
The great and general interests of peace.”
Eventually June 2 was designated for the celebration. In 1873, women’s groups in 18 North American cities observed this new mothers holiday. But it was only observed for a few years.
Historically, credit for the American holiday is given to Anna M. Jarvis who created the day to honor her deceased mother and in honor of peace. In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases “second Sunday in May” and “Mother's Day. ” She created the Mother's Day International Assn., according to Louisa Taylor, Canwest News Service and noted in Wikipedia:
“She was specific about the location of the apostrophe,” we are told. “It was to be a singular possessive, for each family to honor their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world.”
Jarvis is also credited with starting the tradition of giving flowers by giving carnations, her mother’s favorite, to those attending her church in Philadelphia on May 10, 1908.
Through Jarvis’s efforts, the day was nationally recognized as a holiday in 1914. President Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance, declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
Ever since, flowers have been a popular way to say “I love you, Mom,” and the controversy over the commercialization of the day is ongoing. In the early 1900s, one business journal, Florists Review, went so far as to print, “This was a holiday that could be exploited.”
Today, www.mothersdaycentral.com reports, the National Retail Foundation said Mother’s Day is a $14 billion Industry. Hallmark says 96 percent of American consumers take part in shopping on Mother’s Day. Retailers say it is the second highest gift giving day of the year behind Christmas.
It is also the most popular day of the year to eat out at a restaurant, the National Restaurant Assn.
Regardless of how you spent the day, I hope you enjoyed your Mom, celebrated her uniqueness and love, and remember how lucky you are to have one.
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To my mom, you are the best.
Ms. Ottalini may be contacted at susan.ottalini at yahoo.com
