MOTHER'S DAY FACTS

Before a Mother's Day holiday, there was the ancient spring festival dedicated to mother goddesses. In the ancient Greek, the spring festival honored the mother of the gods and goddesses, Rhea. In Rome, a festival was dedicated to Cybele, another mother goddess.

England's had "Mothering Sunday",which was observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent. Some say the ceremonies honors the Mother Church instead of the ancient mother goddess. People brought offerings to the church. In the 1600's, people returned home on Mothering Sunday to bringing to their mothers small gifts or a "mothering cake" or furmety. Furmety are wheat grains boiled in sweet milk, sugared and spiced. In Scotland, this day was called Carling Sunday. People ate carlings which are pancakes made of steeped pease fried in butter, with pepper and salt.

Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948) created our Mother's Day holiday. She never married and honored her mother, Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis. Mrs. Jarvis taught Sunday School in the Andrews Methodist Church of Grafton, West Virginia. Miss Jarvis graduated from the Female Seminary in Wheeling, West Virginia, and taught in there before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Anna Reese Jarvis died in Philadelphia in May of 1905. She took care of her blind sister Elsinore. Two years after her mother's death (1907) Anna Jarvis and her friends began a letter-writing campaign to gain the support of a national Mother's Day holiday. She wanted children to appreciate their mother while the mother was still alive. She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds. The first Mother's Day observance was a church service honoring Mrs. Anna Reese Jaris at in Grafton, West Virginia. Later she has a service for her mother in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1908.

The first Mother's Day proclamation was by West Virginia's Governor in 1910. By 1911 every state had its own Mother's Day observances. The Mother's Day International Association became official on December 12, 1912. They try to make sure Mother's Day is observed. Congress made a Joint Resolution on May 8, 1914, stating the second Sunday in May is to be Mother's Day. President Woodrow Wilson made Mother's Day an official national holiday.

Carnations were at that first service by Miss Jarvis because they were her favorite flowers. White carnations were chosen because they represented the purity of mother love. Later, white carnations signify that one's mother has died.