subject: A Brief History of Mother's day [print this page] A Brief History of Mother's day A Brief History of Mother's day
Many people assume that Mother's Day was dreamt up by one of the large printed cards manufactures, of big florists, but to find the origins we have to go way back in time.
The earliest recorded day of 'mothers' date back to the spring festival the ancient Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities, and also to the offerings the Romans made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele. It is also believed that many Christians celebrated a festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
In the United Kingdom the religious holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was re named Mothering Sunday. Workers would return to their homes on Mothering Sunday with small gifts, or special cakes for their mothers. The whole family would attend church together and there was usually a lavish dinner of roast lamb, or veal, at which mother was treated as queen for the day and everything was done to make her happy and comfortable.
The custom of celebrating Mothering Sunday became widespread during the 19th century. The day was celebrated with a festive mood and the main dish served was called furmety. It consisted of wheat grains boiled in sweet milk, then sugared and spiced. In recent times, as society has evolved the day is now simply referred to as Mother's Day in many western countries.
The above mentioned 'mothering cake' also went by the name of the Simnel cake. similar to a Christmas cake, first boiled in water and then baked, it sometimes had an almond icing at other times the crust was of flour and water, coloured with saffron, but usually covered in a layer of marzipan, then toasted, and eaten during the Easter period in Great Britain. A layer of almond paste is also baked into the middle of the cake and the top of the cake, around the edge, are eleven marzipan balls to represent the disciples of Jesus with Judas omitted. In some variations Christ was also represented on the cake by a ball placed at the centre.
In the United States, Mother's Day can be traced back for over 150 years. Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian housewife, organised a day to raise awareness of the poor health conditions suffered by many in her community, a cause she believed would be best served by local mothers. She called it 'Mother's Work Day'. The idea was such a good one, that it did not take long to be spread all over the states. The governor of West Virginia issued the first Mother's Day proclamation in 1910 and Oklahoma followed suit and celebrated it in that same year. By 1911, there was not a state in the Union that did not have its own Mother's Day celebrations.
After Anna's death her daughter, also called Anna began to lobby prominent businessmen and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a universal day in honor of the nations mothers. At one of the first services organised to celebrate Anna's mother in 1908, at her church in West Virginia, Anna handed out white carnations which were her mother's favorite flower. A few years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the government to also wear white carnations on Mother's Day. In 1914 Woodrow Wilson finally signed a bill recognising Mother's Day as a national holiday and it has been a major entry on the spring calendar ever since.
People observed Mother's Day by attending church, writing letters to their mothers, and eventually, by giving greeting cards, presents, and fresh flowers. With the increasing rise in gift giving activity associated with Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis became quite angry, as she believed that the day's sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of business greed and profit. Despite Jarvis's misgivings, Mother's Day has flourished in the United States and has become one of the years biggest celebrations with a large associated industry providing cards, gifts and flowers.
Mother's day is a wonderful way of thanking your Mother for all she has done for you over the years. Many people show their thanks in different ways with cards and gifts, chocolates, flowers, breakfast in bed, days out, weekends away. Why not try something new this year and send a mother's day ecard, there are many wonderful animated ecards which I am sure any mother would love to receive! But don't forget to get her lots of gifts too and make a fuss over her!
