Another Sunday and this one is to celebrate our Mothers…..I am old so my mother is no longer with me and I miss her every day….
You guys know I like history….and yes there is a history lesson in this….so….do you know the origins of Mother’s Day?
The official story goes like this……
Mother’s Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was first suggested after the American Civil War by social activist Julia Ward Howe. Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) was horrified by the carnage of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War and so, in 1870, she tried to issue a manifesto for peace at international peace conferences in London and Paris (it was much like the later Mother’s Day Peace Proclamation). During the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870s, Julia began a one-woman peace crusade and made an impassioned “appeal to womanhood” to rise against war. She composed in Boston a powerful plea that same year (generally considered to be the original Mothers’ Day proclamation*) translated it into several languages and distributed it widely. In 1872, she went to London to promote an international Woman’s Peace Congress. She began promoting the idea of a “Mother’s Day for Peace” to be celebrated on June 2, honoring peace, motherhood and womanhood. In the Boston Mass, she initiated a Mothers’ Peace Day observance on the second Sunday in June, a practice that was to be established as an annual event and practiced for at least 10 years. The day was, however, mainly intended as a call to unite women against war. It was due to her efforts that in 1873, women in 18 cities in America held a Mother’s Day for Pace gathering. Howe rigorously championed the cause of official celebration of Mothers Day and declaration of official holiday on the day. She held meetings every year at Boston on Mother’s Peace Day and took care that the day was well-observed. The celebrations died out when she turned her efforts to working for peace and women’s rights in other ways. Howe failed in her attempt to get the formal recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace. Her remarkable contribution in the establishment of Mother’s Day, however, remains in the fact that she organized a Mother’s Day dedicated to peace. It is a landmark in the history of Mother’s Day in the sense that this was to be the precursor to the modern Mother’s Day celebrations. To acknowledge Howe’s achievements a stamp was issued in her honor in 1988.
The beginnings were linked to the anti-war movement of the day……
It began with a proclamation……
The “Appeal to womanhood throughout the world” (later known as “Mother’s Day Proclamation”) by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe was an appeal for women to unite for peace in the world. Written in 1870, Howe’s “Appeal to womanhood” was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The appeal was tied to Howe’s feminist conviction that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.
Source: The Antiwar Origin of Mother’s Day – Antiwar.com Blog
Give your mother a hug if you can….I miss being able to do that one simple thing…..
To all my mothers that are also readers….IST sends you a big hug and a kiss…..
Have a happy and safe day….chuq
In Saner Thought 
Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
Thank you and have a good Sunday….chuq
I recall watching one of those American fact and fiction shows regarding how Mother’s Day took hold in America. Checking it now, here’s that story from History.com…
ANNA JARVIS
The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis. Following her mother’s 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children.
After gaining financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. That same day also saw thousands of people attend a Mother’s Day event at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia.
Following the success of her first Mother’s Day, Jarvis—who remained unmarried and childless her whole life—resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar. Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood.
By 1912 many states, towns and churches had adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, and Jarvis had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
JARVIS DECRIES COMMERCIALIZED MOTHER’S DAY
Anna Jarvis had originally conceived of Mother’s Day as a day of personal celebration between mothers and families. Her version of the day involved wearing a white carnation as a badge and visiting one’s mother or attending church services. But once Mother’s Day became a national holiday, it was not long before florists, card companies and other merchants capitalized on its popularity.
While Jarvis had initially worked with the floral industry to help raise Mother’s Day’s profile, by 1920 she had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized. She outwardly denounced the transformation and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and candies.
Jarvis eventually resorted to an open campaign against Mother’s Day profiteers, speaking out against confectioners, florists and even charities. She also launched countless lawsuits against groups that had used the name “Mother’s Day,” eventually spending most of her personal wealth in legal fees. By the time of her death in 1948 Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar.
This lady had the right idea but a bazaar idea of condemning the free market that helped to cement the idea as an American tradition.
Thanx for the lesson…I appreciate the history behind the day….have a great Sunday my friend….chuq
Reblogged this on saywhatumean2say and commented:
Wonderful Post, see history can be interesting.
Happy M’s Day to all you Mothers out there.~~dru~~
dru, I appreciate the re-blog and I hope you have a good day….chuq
We have Mother’s Day in March, so ours has been and gone here. Like you, I lost my Mother , and think of her every day, but especially on Mother’s Day, which she loved to celebrate, and on her birthday too. Commercialisation may have overwhelmed the day itself, but the spirit behind the idea is still a good one.
Best wishes, Pete.
My mother made me the man I am and I miss talking to her about stuff….chuq