The History of Mother's Day

The tradition of honoring mothers began ages ago with rites that celebrated female Goddesses rather than actual mothers.

One of the earliest records of a society celebrating a mother figure is in ancient Egypt, where an annual festival was held to honor the goddess Isis, regarded as the mother of the pharaohs. The juicy story tells that Isis' brother-husband Osiris was slain and dismembered by their jealous brother Seth. Isis reassembled Osiris' body and used it to impregnate herself, giving birth to Horus, whom she then hid amongst the reeds to protect him from Seth. Horus grew up to defeat Seth and become the first ruler of a unified Egypt.

Imported into ancient Rome, the festival of Isis was part of a celebration of an important battle and marked the beginning of winter. The festival lasted for three days and featured dancers, musicians, and singers.

But the real beginnings of Mother's Day can be found in the Roman celebration of the goddess Cybele, the Roman equivalent of the Greek Goddess Rhea, or Magna Mater (Great Mother). Rhea was the mother of most of the major Greek deities, including Zeus. Her festival took place around the time of the Vernal Equinox, the beginning of spring, and included games and a procession through the streets with a statue of the goddess carried at the head, followed by a display of elaborate arts and crafts.

In early Christian times, Europeans used the fourth Sunday in Lent to honor the church in which they were baptized, which they knew as their "Mother Church." They decorated the place of worship with jewels, flowers, and other offerings.

In the 1600s, a clerical decree in England broadened the celebration to include real mothers. Called Mothering Day, it became a holiday of compassion toward the working classes, when servants and trade workers were allowed to travel back to their hometowns to visit their families. It also provided a day off from the fasting and penance of Lent, so families could enjoy a sumptuous family feast with Mother as the guest of honor, receiving cakes and flowers.

The first English settlers to America discontinued the tradition of Mothering Day. The long hours they were forced to work in the new land didn't allow for time off for celebrations. And the Mothering Day holiday conflicted with their conservative Puritan ideals, which allowed only for somber Christian holidays.

The first American Mother's Day was conceived of by Julia Ward Howe, the prominent abolitionist, social activist, and author of the lyrics for the patriotic anthem "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Howe was deeply disturbed by the carnage of the Civil War, and in 1870 called on mothers to protest the futility of war. She issued a proclamation calling for an international Mother's Day celebrating peace and motherhood. June 2nd was designated for the celebration and in 1873 women's groups in 18 American cities observed the new holiday. Many of these celebrations were funded by Howe, and they died out once she stopped footing the bill.

Howe had been inspired by a West Virginia woman named Ann Jarvis, who had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. During the Civil War she organized women to work for better sanitary conditions, and after the war she sought to reunite the divisions by bringing friends and neighbors together through a day of celebration of mothers.

When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter Anna began a crusade to found an official memorial day for mothers, to honor her own beloved parent. The first Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia on May 10th, 1908, in the church where Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Anna Jarvis arranged for white carnations—her mother's favorite flower—to adorn the patrons. The custom spread until, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May to be national Mother's Day, a day for Americans to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

The holiday caught on, especially with card-makers and florists, and nine years later commercialization had become so rampant that Anna Jarvis became opposed to what her holiday had become. In 1923 she sued to stop a Mother’s Day event, and in the 1930s she was arrested for disturbing the peace at the American War Mothers group as she protested the sale of flowers. She also petitioned against the postage stamp featuring her mother, a vase of white carnations, and the words "Mother's Day." She succeeded only in having the words "Mother's Day" removed. She wrote, "What will you do to route charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations?"