Celebrate Mothers Day and make her feel like the Queen of the World!
Mothers Day is celebrated in many countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan and Belgium. The day is used by children and husbands to honor mothers and grandmothers for all that they do in raising children.
Mothers day was first suggested in the United States by Julia Ward Howe, writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. She suggested that this day be dedicated to peace. Miss Howe organized Mother’s Day meetings in Boston every year.
Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948) is credited with originating our Mothers Day holiday. She was extremely attached to her mother, Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis. Anna Reese Jarvis died in Philadelphia in May, 1905. Still unmarried and left alone with her blind sister Elsinore, Anna missed her mother greatly. Two years after her mother's death (1907) Anna Jarvis and her friends began a letter-writing campaign to gain the support of influential ministers, businessmen and congressmen in declaring a national Mothers Day holiday. She felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother enough while the mother was still alive. She hoped Mothers Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.
The first Mothers Day observance was a church service honoring Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis, held at Anna Jarvis's request in Grafton, West Virginia, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1908.
The first Mothers Day proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia in 1910. By 1911 every state had its own observances. By then other areas celebrating Mothers Day included Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South America and Africa. The Mothers Day International Association was incorporated on December 12, 1912, with the purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mothers Day.
The House of Representatives in May, 1913, unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the President, his Cabinet, members of Congress, and all officials of the federal government to wear a white carnation on Mothers Day. Congress passed another Joint Resolution May 8, 1914, designating the second Sunday in May as Mothers Day. President Woodrow Wilson issued the first proclamation making Mothers Day an official national holiday.
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