Anna M Jarvis

Nigeria: Mothers' Day Celebration - A Ritual Or Necessity?

According to available information, the history of Mothers' Day is centuries old and dates back to the times of ancient Greeks, who held festivities to honour Rhea, the mother of the gods. The early Christians celebrated the Mother's Festival on the fourth Sunday of Lent to honour Mary, the mother of Christ. Interestingly, later on, a religious order stretched the holiday to include all mothers, and named it 'Mothering Sunday'. The English colonists settled in America and discontinued the tradition of Mothering Sunday because of lack of time. In 1872, Julia Ward Howe organised a day for mothers dedicated to peace. It was a landmark in the history of Mothers' Day.

Another account has it that it was Anna M. Jarvis, a Philadelphia school teacher who in 1907, began a movement to set up a national Mothers' Day in honour of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. She solicited the help of hundreds of legislators and prominent businessmen to create a special day to honour mothers. The first Mothers' Day observance was a church service honouring Anna's mother. Anna handed out her mother's favourite flowers, the white incarnations on the occasion representing sweetness, purity, and patience. Anna's hard work finally paid off in 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honour of mothers in the United States of America.

Slowly and gradually the Mothers' day became a very popular and gift-giving activity increased. All this commercialisation of the Mothers' day infuriated Anna, as she believed that the day's sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of greed and profit. Regardless of Jarvis's worries, Mothers' Day celebrations flourished in the United States. Actually, the second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year. Although Anna may not be alive, the Mothers' day lives on and has spread to various countries of the world.

While investigation has shown that there is no uniform date and mode of the celebrations, the contemporary Mothers' Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March, April, or May as a day to honour mothers and motherhood.

The Divergence...

In most countries, Mothers' Day is a recent observance derived from the holiday as is obtainable in America. When it was adopted by other countries and cultures, it was given different meanings, associated to different events (religious, historical or legendary), and celebrated on different dates. Some countries already had existing celebrations honouring motherhood, and their celebrations have adopted several external characteristics from the US holiday, like giving carnations and other presents to one's own mother. The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mothers' Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture.

Story of Anna Jarvis | Mothers Day Special

The story of Mothers Day is the story of firm determination of a daughter, Anna Jarvis who resolved to pay tribute to her mother, Mrs Anna M Jarvis and all other mothers of the world. Anna Jarvis dedicated her life to fulfill her mothers dream of the recognition of day for honoring mothers. Though never a mother herself, Founder of Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis is today recognised as the 'Mother of Mothers Day'. An apt title to define the remarkable woman's ceaseless devotion to her mother and motherhood in general. Anna Jarvis was born in Webster, Taylor County, West Virginia, on May 1, 1864. She was the ninth of eleven children born to Ann Marie and Granville Jarvis. Her family moved to Grafton when Anna was a year old. It was here that the Anna did her schooling. In 1881, she enrolled at the Augusta Female Academy in Staunton, Virginia, now Mary Baldwin College. After finishing her academics, Anna returned to Grafton and did teaching in a school for seven years. After the death of her mother in 1905, Anna Jarvis resolved to honor her mother. She became all the more serious in her resolution when she found that adult children in the US were negligent in their behaviour towards there parents. Besides the desire of her mother that someone would one day pay tribute to all mothers, living and dead and appreciate their contributions made Anna decisions even more stronger. To give shape to her resolution, Miss Anna Jarvis along with her supporters began to write hundreds of letters to those holding the positions of power advocate the need for a national Mothers Day. A fluent speaker, Anna used every platform to promote her cause. Though the response was cold initially, she achieved a breakthrough by gaining the support of great merchant and philanthropist, John Wanamaker of Philadelphia. The movement gained a fresh impetus with his support. In 1909, forty-five states including Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico observed the day by appropriate services. People also wore white and red Carnations to pay tribute to their mothers, according to the tradition started by Anna Jarvis. Anna chose carnations because they were her mother's favorite flowers.

Anna M. Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day

A few words on spiritualism

The Southeastern reporter

Catalogue of the public documents of the ... Congress and of all departments of the Government of the United States for the period from ... to ...

Andrew Warde and his descendants, 1597-1910, being a compilation of facts relating to one of the oldest New England families and embracing many families of other names, descended from a worthy ancestor even unto the tenth and eleventh generations