When did Mother’s Day first happen?

In the United States, it goes back to 1914 when President
Woodrow Wilson set aside the second Sunday in May for a national
Mother’s Day. It followed a grassroots effort begun in 1907 by
Philadelphia schoolteacher Anna M. Jarvis to honor her mother Anna,
who died in 1905 and had hoped a day would be founded to honor all
mothers.

It wasn’t the first time in history that mothers have been
honored. The ancient Egyptians honored the goddess Isis, the mother
of the pharaohs. The ancient Greeks held events to honor Rhea,
mother to the gods. Romans had a similar tribute in honor of,
Cybele, their mother of the gods. Early Christians had a mother’s
festival to honor Mary, mother of Jesus. It was enlarged to honor
all mothers and called Mothering Sunday, on the fourth Sunday of
Lent.

By the 1600s, mothers in England received cakes, flowers and
visits from their children on Mothering Sunday. The tradition died
out in America because the Pilgrims were just too busy working. In
1872, Boston suffragette and poet Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the
lyrics to “Battle Hymn of the Republic”) helped create a day for
mothers who were committed to peace.

Today, we spend Mother’s Day by honoring our moms with cards,
flowers and other gifts. In 1923, Anna M. Jarvis, already worried
about the event going from a solemn tribute to something more,
filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother’s Day event and was arrested for
disturbing the peace where carnations were sold for a war mother’s
rally. In 1948, she said she regretted ever starting the day.

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