Sunday Was Mother’s Day

Did you call your Mom? I’m ashamed to say I did not. I didn’t send a card or flowers or go visit. I’m a bad daughter! But I did think about Mother’s Day. What do you think…is it better to send a card late or not send one at all? It’s the old better late than never dilemma.

Mother’s Day has an interesting history.

The Travel channel has a program that you can hardly miss. They seem to do marathons all the time. The show is called Mysteries at the Museum. They ran their Mother’s Day Episode rerun this week and I happened to catch part of it. According to the show The American Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis to honor her mother and the sacrifices she saw other mothers making for their children.

Be careful what you wish for!

Once again the old adage turned out to be true. Anna Jarvis didn’t like what she created. After all her hard work to get Mother’s Day recognized as a National Holiday she grew to hate her creation. It was too commercial. She hated that florists, stationary stores and candy makers jumped on the bandwagon and made the holiday another commercial extravaganza. She actually spent the rest of her life trying to tear down the holiday her efforts created!

Anna Jarvis’ Vision

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. That was fine when it was just a local or personal celebration but it all changed once it “went National”.

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The Sad Result of Mother’s Day Success

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. She even actively lobbied the government have it removed from the calendar.

In The End

In the end it was the charities that Anna raged against that cared for her once her financial resources were exhausted.

There are lots of other Mother’s Day traditions around the world. A short but interesting read about this history can be found at http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mothers-day

To my Mom, there is no excuse for skipping Mother’s Day but we’ll have our own celebration in June when you join Sandy and me for our Maine Vacation!