History of Mother's Day

The Birth of Mother's Day

The modern Mother's Day was invented by a lady named Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia in 1912. Ms. Jarvis wanted a special day to honor and celebrate mothers within the family environment. She wanted the day to focus on the appreciation of moms by their families. It was an instant success and soon spread throughout the United States. Companies jumped on board quickly for mother's gifts. Anna also trademarked the terms "Mother's Day" and "Second Sunday of May" back then, which was incredible foresight. President Woodrow Wilson signed the day into law and specifically spelled "Mother's Day" with the singular apostrophe.

Ironically, nine years after the first Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis opposed the holiday she helped create because of its mass commercialization. This did not stop Mother's Day's popularity. Far from it, this original American holiday soon spread around the world and now the second Sunday of May has been adopted by 79 other countries as Mothers Day.

Mothers Day in Ancient Times

Although the modern Mother's Day started in a quiet small state in the United States, the tradition of a day for mothers dates back to ancient Greece and China as early as 700 BC. In Greece, mothers were celebrated during the Vernal Equinox when day and night are exactly 12 hours each which marks the coming of Spring. In ancient China, there was a special day to celebrate mothers and mother Earth together, as a symbol of fertility and prosperity.

This vernal equinox holiday was adopted by the Romans half a millenia later and it is popularly known as the "Ides of March". The Roman holiday however, lasted for several days from March 15th to March 18th. The ancient Romans also had a holiday called Matronalia which was customary to give a gift to your mother.

Throughout Asia, there were many special mother's day celebrations, but the most culturally influential was China's which spread to other parts of Asia, the Pacific and eventually Asia Minor and Eastern Europe. In Western Europe, a specific Sunday was designeated as "Mothering Sunday".

Mother's Day Today

Mother's Day has spread around the world and is honored in different regions on different days. The Second Sunday of May is used in 80 countries including the United States which started this trend and adopted by 79 other countries with a wide diversity from China to Colombia to Australia. The next most popular date remains the Spring Equinox or known as Vernal Equinox explained above.

 

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