Happy Mothers Day!

Here’s to wishing all Mother’s in the United States a Happy Mother’s Day. For those families who actually live within commuting distance of “Mom,” be sure to take her out to breakfast, lunch, dinner, or at least stop by and say hello. For those of us too far away to commute, at least give dear old Mom a call….after sending a card or some flowers… Read a short history of Mother’s Day on the flip.

From the ever wonderful Wikipedia, comes this short history of Mother’s Day in the US:

In 1907, Mother’s Day was first celebrated in a small, private way by Anna Marie Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, to commemorate the anniversary of her mother’s death two years earlier on May 9, 1905. Jarvis’s mother, named Anna Maria Reeves Jarvis, had been active in Mother’s Day campaigns for peace and worker’s safety and health since end of American Civil War. The younger Jarvis launched a quest to get wider recognition of Mother’s Day. The celebration organized by Jarvis on May 10, 1908 involved 407 children with their mothers at the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton (this church is now the Mother’s Day Shrine]). Grafton is, thus, the place recognized as the birthplace of Mother’s Day. The subsequent campaign to recognize Mother’s Day was financed by Philadelphia clothing merchant John Wanamaker. As the custom of Mother’s Day spread, the emphasis shifted from the pacifism and reform movements to a general appreciation of mothers. The first official recognition of the holiday was by West Virginia in 1910. A proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day was signed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson on May 14, 1914.

Wikipedia

Mother’s Day is also celebrated in many places around the world:

Different countries celebrate Mother’s Day on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins. One school of thought claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March. The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day. In some countries Mother’s Day began not as a celebration for individual mothers but rather for Christians.

Wikipedia

So Happy Mother’s Day!