Don’t forget Mum

Second Sunday in May
Celebration of mothers can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele.

An early Christian festival known as ‘Mothering Sunday’ on the fourth Sunday in Lent was once a tradition in England and Europe. Originally this celebration was more a time to return to their ‘mother church, their childhood church, for a special service. Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into when children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation.

Mothers day in it’s current form is attributed to American Anna Jarvis. Following her mother’s 1905 death Anna conceived Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. She approached wealthy Philadelphia department store owner John Wanamaker to get financial backing to promote her idea. Wanamaker clearly saw the commercial possibilities and provided funds.

Anna organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia in May 1908. The same day thousands of people attend a Mother’s Day event promoted at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia.

Following the success of her first Mother’s Day worked to have the holiday added to the national calendar. She started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians and 1912 many states had adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

Anna idea was of Mother’s Day as a day of personal celebration between mothers and families But once Mother’s Day became a national holiday florists, card companies and other retailers were soon cashing in on its popularity.

By 1920 she had become disillusioned by how the holiday had been commercialised and denounced the trend urging people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and gifts. Eventually resorting to an open campaign against what she saw as Mother’s Day profiteers pointing out that the day she had worked so hard for was supposed to be about sentiment, not about profit.[7]

By the time of her death in 1948 Anna had disowned Mother’s Day altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to have it removed from the American calendar. Which is a great shame for Mother’s Day is an excellent idea and it is sad to think that Anna did not get satisfaction in what she had achieved.

So, while as visualised by Anna, Mother’s Day is a time to spend time with your Mum and tell her how much you appreciate her there is little doubt that a present such as of flowers, wine, chocolates, something specially made, or being taken out to dine, would be greatly appreciated.