In news– Every year on the second Sunday in May, Mother’s Day is celebrated across the world.
Anna Jarvis & History of Mother’s Day-
- Anna Jarvis was an American activist who founded Mother’s Day to honour her and “all mothers” in 1908.
- The first official Mother’s Day celebrated through a service of worship at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908.
- Anna’s mother Ann Reeves Jarvis, driven by her own experiences, spent her life working for causes centred around motherhood, such as teaching mothers sanitation to prevent child mortality, and forming a community of mothers from both sides of the Civil War divide to bridge rankling differences.
- When Mrs Jarvis died in 1905, Anna wrote letters to politicians, businessmen, and church leaders to enlist their support for her cause, proposing the second Sunday of May as a day dedicated to celebrating mothers, with a white carnation – her mother’s favourite flower – as the day’s emblem.
- She chose the second Sunday of May so that the date would be close to May 9, when her mother had died.
- Eventually the day grew in popularity, and in 1914, James Heflin of Alabama introduced a formal legislation to recognise Mother’ Day in the House of Representatives and President Woodrow Wilson on May 8, 1914, signed it into law.
- However, throughout her lifetime, Anna Jarvis opposed the commercialization of Mothers day as she had intended it to be “a day of sentiment, not profit”.
Source: The Indian Express
