Good morning: Yesterday was Mothers Day and Whether she changed your diapers, forced you to eat your vegetables or somehow cured your “owies” – Mother’s Day is the holiday to show how much your mom means to you. The international holiday, which is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, turns 100 years old this year. The holiday has more somber beginnings than its modern form. The idea of commemorating mothers began in the 1850s when West Virginia womens organizer Ann Reeves Jarvis formed Mothers Day work clubs to improve sanitary conditions in order to decrease infant-mortality rate due to milk contamination, Katharine Antolini of West Virginia Wesleyan College told National Geographic. Jarvis died in 1905. Three years later, her daughter, Anna, decided to organize the first Mothers Day observances. On May 10, families gathered at events in Jarviss hometown of Grafton, West Virginia. Later in 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson officially decided the second Sunday in May would mark the holiday. Anna Jarvis envisioned the holiday as a day of personal celebration between mothers and families by donning a white carnation as a badge and visiting one’s mother or attending church services. Once Mother’s Day became a national holiday, it soon became heavily commercialized and businesses encouraged people to buy flowers, cards and candy. At the time of her death in 1948, she rejected the holiday and even lobbied for it to be removed from the American calendar. In the United States, Mother’s Day is celebrated by giving mothers gifts, flowers and cards. In Thailand, Mother’s Day is held in August on the birthday of the current queen, Sirikit. In Ethiopia, families gather in the fall to sing songs and eat a large feast as part of Antrosht, a multi-day celebration honoring motherhood.
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 12:12:03 +0000
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