Introduction: Honoring Mothers – The History of Mother’s Day
Why talk about Mother’s Day on a business blog? I settled on the new tagline – Learn, Stretch, Grow, which is very telling about the focus of this blog now. We have talked a lot about producing ideas, and one thing I have talked a lot about is building your body of general knowledge. Producing ideas is about combining elements in ways they have not been combined before. And you combine general knowledge with specific knowledge to produce new ideas. Although people know about holidays, they often do not know about the history, so they cannot place things into context. I am taking the opportunity to write about the history of Mother's Day because people may find it surprising.
Many holidays lose their original intent as they become too commercialized, and Mother's Day is one of those holidays.
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History of Mother’s Day: What is Mother's Day?
Mother's Day is a day set aside to celebrate and honor the achievements and efforts of mothers and mother figures. In some countries such as Costa Rica, Georgia, Samoa, and Thailand it is designated a public holiday.
On Mother's Day, children often prepare meals or give their mother gifts and greeting cards. Additionally, restaurants are busy for brunch and dinner since the kitchen at home is closed because mom has the day off.
The roots of the holiday are based on love and respect for motherhood and not on commercialization. The buying, selling, and marketing of products have taken precedence over Anna Jarvis' initial vision of and intention for Mother's Day. (US Data Below)
History of Mother’s Day: Who Created Mother's Day
Anna Jarvis, a peace activist, founded Mother's Day. Born in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 1, 1864 to a prosperous family, she attended Mary Baldwin College and got an outstanding education.
After Anna Jarvis' mother died in 1905, she started a campaign to get ta day set aside to celebrate and honor women everywhere. With dogged determination, she used up most of her inheritance to make her dream a reality. Mother's Day was first observed on May 10, 1908.
Jarvis organized church services honoring mothers in Grafton, where she was born, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she lived. She introduced the custom of wearing carnations on that day. Carnations were her mother's favorite flowers.
She wrote letters to state officials, legislators, and congressional representatives, resulting in several states making Mother's Day celebrations official. In May 1914, Congress introduced a bill to set aside the second Sunday in May as a national Mother's Day. The legislation passed unanimously and President Woodrow Wilson authorized it the following year. Anna Jarvis incorporated herself as the Mother's Day International Association and continued her efforts to extend the holiday internationally.
Florists, greeting card companies, and candy makers saw the commercial opportunity and capitalized on Mother's Day celebration. Anna Jarvis opposed the commercialization of Mother's Day and fought to maintain the purity of the day.
Anna Jarvis died in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1948.
History of Mother’s Day: Mother's Day Celebration Around the World
Mother's Day is celebrated at various times in over 120 countries across the globe. It falls on different days depending on the countries where it is celebrated. I have included information for only some countries.
- Second Sunday in February: Norway
- March 3rd: Georgia.
- First Sunday in May: Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain
- May 10: El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico
- Second Sunday of May: Australia, Canada, the United States, China, Japan, India, Anguilla, Aruba, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Jamaica, Latvia, Malta, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
- Second Monday of May: Samoa.
- Last Sunday in May: Algeria, Dominican Republic, France*, Haiti, Mauritius, Morocco, Sweden, Tunisia.
- Three weeks before Easter Sunday: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Nigeria.
- August 12th: Thailand.
- August 15th: Costa Rica.
- December 8th: Panama
- December 22nd: Indonesia
Note:
In Albania, Bulgaria, Guyana, Italy, Macedonia, Mongolia, and Russia the day is observed as International Women’s Day (not specifically Mothers’ Day).
In France and Tunisia Mother's Day is the last Sunday of May (except if the day falls on Pentecost Sunday, in which case Mother’s Day will be celebrated on the first Sunday of June)
(The Mothers and Children’s Day. Mongolia is the only country that celebrates Mother’s Day twice a year.)
Mother's Day Gift Guide
According to the Statistics Brain, mother's want the following gifts in order of priority:
- Something Homemade
- Dinner
- Greeting Card
- Gift Cards
- Flowers
- Jewelry
- Books
- Spa
- Clothing
- Music
- Movies
- Travel
- Electronic
Source: https://www.statisticbrain.com/mothers-day-statistics/
Have you read?
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To Her with Love
The following are gifts that I created. I made some designs and Gear Bubble will place them on products that I choose.
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Below are e-books that I created with the professional in mind.
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Sources:
Felton, Bruce, and Mark Fowler. Famous Americans You Never Knew Existed. NY: Stein and Day, 1980.
McHenry, Robert, ed. Famous American Women. NY: Dover, 1993.
Barbara Morgan, Melrose, Massachusetts
Source Citation: (MLA 8th Edition)
Morgan, Barbara. “Jarvis, Anna M. (1864–1948).” Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, edited by Anne Commire, vol. 8, Yorkin Publications, 2002, p. 94. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2591304561/GVRL?u=tplmain&sid=GVRL&xid=98fc96e3. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
