United States Mother’s Day

United States Mother’s Day started

In the United States, Mother’ s Day started nearly 150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community. She believed mothers would best advocate her. She called it Mother’s Work Day. In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life and work of her mother. Legend has it that young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day. There are many days for men, but not for mothers.” Anna began to lobby prominent businesspersons and politicians to support her campaign to create a special day to honour mothers.

In 1913, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother’s Day. In 1914, Anna’s hard work pain off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s day as a national holiday. At present, people observe Mother’s Day by attending church, writing letters to their mothers, and eventually by sending cards, presents, and flowers. In fact, the second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honour and to express appreciation of their mothers.