The origins of Mother’s Day, in the United States, date back to the 20th century, when a woman named Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at a church in Grafton, West Virginia. Her efforts to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother died. Anna wanted to honor her mother by setting aside a day to honor all mothers, because she believed that they are "the [people] who has done more for you than anyone in the world."
In 1908, the US Congress rejected her proposal to make Mother's Day an official holiday, jokingly stating that would have to result in a "Mother-in-law's Day" as well. However, by 1911, all US states observed the holiday, the first being West Virginia, Anna Jarvis’ home state, back in 1910. Shortly after, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a request signifying Mother's Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as an official national holiday.
Anna Jarvis had originally meant for Mother’s Day to be a day of personal celebration between mothers and families, and once it became commercialized, she had - become
become disgusted. She urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers and cards as it really wasn’t what the day was for. She wanted Mother’s Day to be a day of sentiment, not profit, but obviously nothing has changed.
After a few years, Anna Jarvis actually went crazy. She wrote letters threatening companies and local florists that she would file for a lawsuit if they continued to promote products using Mother’s Day. She even wrote against Eleanor Roosevelt for using Mother’s Day to raise money for charities which was the very type of work Jarvis’s mother did, back when she was alive. She was once dragged out and arrested by police for disturbing the peace. At one point, Anna even went as far as to go door to door and get signatures to recall Mother’s Day.
The history of Mother’s Day is a crazy one, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from spending the day how Anna Jarvis originally wanted. Take some time to honour the mothers in your life and let them know how much they mean to you, and maybe try not to go the commercial capitalist way.
Nicole Stetsyuk