How Mother’s Day came to be
Posted May 10, 2015 5:13 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ever wonder how Mother’s Day first started?
It began with Anna Jarvis of West Virginia, a woman who ended up wishing she’d never got it going in the first place.
Back in 1908, according to various sources, her idea for an official Mother’s Day was rejected by the U.S. congress, amid jokes that they would also have to proclaim a “mother-in-law’s day.”
But Jarvis persisted her efforts, to honour her beloved mother, Ann, who had been a peace activist.
After a tireless campaign, all U.S. states were observing the holiday by 1911. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1914 creating Mother’s Day as a national holiday.
However, by the early 1920’s Jarvis was resentful of the commercialization of the second Sunday in May.
She felt it had nothing to do with celebrating women’s achievments and more about profit.
She became so embittered she campaigned for the rest of her life to remove it from the calendar.
Jarvis, who never became a mother herself, died alone in a hospital suffering from an illness believed to be brought on by her ceaseless campaign.
Since then, the American holiday has influenced other Mother’s days around the world.
