Mother's Day

Mother’s day is one of the most widely celebrated holidays around the world. The majority of countries that celebrate Mother’s Day do so on the second Sunday of May. Fifty three countries celebrate in May and over 40 others observe a variation of the day in different months for different cultural or religious reasons.
 
Julia Ward Howe was the first advocate of a Mother’s Day in the United States in 1970. She was so distraught by the carnage of the Civil War, she called for mothers to protest the killing of other mother’s sons. The cause was later picked up by Anna Reeves Jarvis as a way to repair the rift caused by the Civil War and then by her daughter Anna M. Jarvis in 1908.
 
Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. In 1908, she petitioned the church where her mother had taught Sunday School for a Mother’s Day celebration. White carnations were given to everyone in attendance, thus starting the tradition of carnations for mothers on Mother’s Day.
 
The holiday was eventually made official in the U.S. in 1914 by Woodrow Wilson. It is designated as the second Sunday in May and requires the President to proclaim the holiday every year.
 
Despite Anna’s crusade against materialism, Hallmark reports that Mother’s Day is the second highest gift giving day with the first being Christmas and florist see their highest sales in May.
 
Happy Mother’s Day!