These days, we celebrate Mother’s Day just like any other holiday. However, have you ever stopped and thought about when Mother’s Day first started, and who came up with it?
It started in the time of the Greeks and Romans
Back during the time of the Greeks and Romans, they celebrated a festival that honored mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele. However, these were different as they didn’t celebrate motherhood and mothers, but they were more religious celebrations.
The earliest equivalent to Mother’s Day would be the early Christian festival called “Mothering Day” which happened during the 4th Sunday of Lent, wherein Christians would return to their “mother church”, or the main church near their home.
Eventually, it morphed into a secular celebration where children would give their mothers gifts of flowers and other similar objects. As time went on, it merged with the American Mother’s Day celebration during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
The American Mother’s Day
In the US, Mother’s Day started way back during the 19th century. A woman by the name of Ann Reeves Jarvis started “Mother’s Day Work Clubs” to help teach mothers about taking care of their children.
Anne Reeves Jarvis also started a Mother’s Friendship Day in an attempt to unify the United States of America after the civil war.
After her death in 1905, her daughter, Anna Jarvis, started the idea of having a “Mother’s Day” to celebrate the sacrifices that mothers do for their children.
Eventually, with some help from a department store owner, she was able to organize the very first Mother’s Day celebration in the US. Following the success of the first Mother’s Day, she sent letters to various politicians in an attempt to make it a national holiday.
In 1914, the second Sunday of May was officially declared as Mother’s Day, and eventually, the rest of the world followed suit.
These days, Mother’s Day is celebrated in more than 46 countries around the world, and in many different ways. However, one thing is for certain, mothers deserve all of the love and the respect that we can give them! After all, mothers are truly amazing!
Source: mothersdaycelebration.com, history.com, en.wikipedia.org
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