The Remarkable Story Behind Mother’s Day A Daughter’s Promise That Sparked a National Celebration

 

The Remarkable Story Behind Mother’s Day: A Daughter’s Promise That Sparked a National Celebration

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Mother's Day unites families each year to celebrate the care, sacrifice, and love of mothers everywhere. However, the origins of this cherished holiday may be found in a single, resolute daughter and a sincere vow she made to her mother more than a century ago.

 

Who Was the Mother That Inspired Mother’s Day?

Although one specific mother impacted the day's beginnings, her daughter, Anna Jarvis, is best known for creating the modern-day holiday that we observe today.

Ann Reeves Jarvis, Anna's mother, was a loving mother to thirteen kids, but sadly, only four of them made it to adulthood. In an effort to address high child death rates, Ann, who was concerned about health and child welfare, planned community events where doctors gave women hygiene and infant care training. She wished for mothers to be acknowledged nationwide, but she never got it despite her own efforts.

 

A Daughter’s Promise That Changed History

Author of Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for the Control of Mother's Day, historian Katharine Antolini, claims that the holiday's inception started when 12-year-old Anna Jarvis heard her mother's sincere prayer, hoping for a day that would honor mothers everywhere.

Anna remembered that prayer. Anna stood at her mother's tomb after her death in 1905 and promised to carry out that wish. She started a ceaseless letter-writing effort to promote the cause, contacting influential people of her era, politicians, and religious leaders.

Her efforts were successful. In Grafton, West Virginia, the church where Ann had previously taught Sunday school hosted the first Mother's Day ceremony in May 1908.

 

The Holiday Gains National Recognition

Anna Jarvis continued after that. She kept up her advocacy in the ensuing years, writing to legislators and governors across the nation. As a result of her determination, Mother's Day was observed in some capacity in every state in the union by 1911.

Because it was closest to the anniversary of her mother's passing, she chose to have the party on the second Sunday in May. likewise, Anna decided to make white carnations, her mother's favorite flower, the day's official logo.

Cincinnati jumped on board early locally. Only a few weeks after the governor of Virginia issued a similar declaration, then-Mayor Louis Schwab announced in May 1911 that the city would officially observe Mother's Day.