The History of Mothers Day
At the end of this week is a day used to celebrate the mothers in our lives, whether they be our biological parent or someone who has become important in your life in much the same way. Maternal figures in our lives can have a profound affect on us within our lifetimes and while it may not always be our mother, these figures can still have a great influence on our development. So, when did this day of celebrating mothers and maternal figures begin in the first place?
How did this holiday begin in the first place? It is, in fact, not a very old holiday as far as holidays go. When a lot of other holidays find their origins in the early AC, this celebration only began at the end of the last century. In 1905, Anna Jarvis began to campaign to make Mother’s Day an official US holiday, following the death of her mother in the same year. The holiday was not taken on straight away at the beginning of her campaign. Years before this campaign, she had previously worked on mother related campaign. During the American Civil War, she helped wounded soldiers from both sides of the war, starting a Mother’s Day club to talk about public health issues. She and another peace activist and suffragette wished for mothers to plead for peace for a day for their husbands and sons who were at war. This was called “Mother’s Day For Peace”. Because of all of the work that she did with mothers, she felt that it was right that there be a day to honour mothers in a way.
Initially, this was not as successful as she would have probably liked. While the first service was held in an individual church in 2007, it was denied by the American Government in 2008, with them making joking remarks about having to established a ‘Mother-in-Laws day’. But by 1911, it was named an official holiday in the USA. But Jarvis began to become resentful of the holiday that she fought for because of the way that it had become commoditized. She felt that what they were doing with Mother’s Day was not what the heart of what the holiday that she had fought to creates true meaning.
The people we love in our lives, the people that help to shape us to be who we are today, are very important to who we will eventually be, and I think that it is very important that we honour the people that we love the most in our every lives. This day is a day of celebration for those help to shape us into the people that we are today.
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