Face Activities extends a Happy Mother’s Day Greeting to all our members and their mothers, around the world! Millions of us will gather with our families to celebrate the most important person in the world–Mom!
There are as many ways to celebrate the day as there are mothers, of course. Traditionally a nice breakfast, or brunch, is followed by a card, along with a cake, flowers and gifts, and fun activities and outings throughout the day. And for many, religious observances are part of the celebration. There have been many celebrations of mothers and motherhood throughout human history, dating back to the ancient world, but the modern holiday of Mother’s day is a relatively new tradition.
The holiday now has a strong commercial side, but the original founder, Anna Jarvis, strongly rejected the growing commercialization around Mother’s Day that she observed in her lifetime. A peace activist during the American Civil War, she had campaigned for a holiday to honor and celebrate mothers since 1905, following the death of her own mother.
Jarvis celebrated the first Mother’s Day in 1908, as a memorial to her own mother, in West Virginia. Thanks to her efforts, by 1910 West Virginia had adopted the day as a state holiday, and by 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation, setting the date for the national holiday we know today. The holiday eventually went international and is now celebrated all over the world.
As the holiday gained popularity, Jarvis maintained that hand written notes to mothers, rather than store bought greeting cards, expressed the proper holiday sentiment, and she organized protests and boycotts against greeting card companies, called for law suits, and even went as far as protesting a candy convention and a meeting of a War Mother’s group, where she was arrested for disturbing the peace. She was most definitely passionate about the holiday she founded, perhaps to the point of extremism.
Learn more about Mother’s Day (Wikipedia)
