Mother's Day

Mothers' Day Factoids by Jone Johnson Lewis

The Basic Facts Behind Mother’s Day
· ancient Greeks celebrated a holiday in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods
· ancient Romans celebrated a holiday in honor of Cybele, a mother goddess, March 22-25 - the celebrations were notorious enough that followers of Cybele were banished from Rome
· in the British Isles and Celtic Europe, the goddess Brigid, and later her successor St. Brigid, were honored with a spring Mother's Day, connected with the first milk of the ewes

Mothering Sunday was celebrated in Britain beginning in the 17th century
· it was honored on the fourth Sunday in Lent
· it began as a day when apprentices and servants could return home for the day to visit their mothers
· they often brought a gift with them, often a "mothering cake" -- a kind of fruitcake or fruit-filled pastry known as simnels.
· furmety, a sweetened boiled cereal dish, was often served at the family dinner during Mothering Sunday celebrations
· by the 19th century, the holiday had almost completely died out

The earliest Mothers' Day or Mothers' Work Days, in the United States, (plural "mothers") was initiated in 1858 in West Virginia
· Anna Reeves Jarvis, a local teacher and church member, wanted to work for improved sanitation in her town
· during the Civil War, she extended the purpose of Mothers' Work Days to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides in the conflict
· after the Civil War, she worked to establish a reconciliation between people who had supported the two sides in the war

Julia Ward Howe also tried to establish a Mother's Day in America
· Howe became known as the author of the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," but was horrified by the carnage of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War
· in 1870, she tried to issue a manifesto for peace at international peace conferences in London and Paris (it was much like the later “Mothers‘ Day Peace Proclamation“
· in 1872, she began promoting the idea of a "Mother's Day for Peace" to be celebrated on June 2, honoring peace, motherhood and womanhood
· in 1873, women in 18 cities in America held a Mother's Day for Pace gathering
· Boston celebrated the Mother's Day for Peace for at least 10 years
· the celebrations died out when Howe was no longer paying most of the cost for them, although some celebrations continued for 30 years
· Howe turned her efforts to working for peace and women's rights in other ways
· a stamp was issued in honor of Julia Ward Howe in 1988 -- no mention of Mother's Day, though

Anna Jarvis, daughter of Anna Reeves Jarvis, who had moved from Grafton, West Virginia, to Philadelphia, in 1890, was the power behind the official establishment of Mother's Day
· she swore at her mother's gravesite in 1905 to dedicate her life to her mother's project, and establish a Mother's Day to honor mothers, living and dead
· a persistent rumor is that Anna's grief was intensified because she and her mother had quarreled and her mother died before they could reconcile
· in 1907 she passed out 500 white carnations at her mother's church, St. Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia -- one for each mother in the congregation
· May 10, 1908: the first church -- St. Andrew's in Grafton, West Virginia -- responded to her request for a Sunday service honoring mothers
· 1908: John Wanamaker, a Philadelphia merchant, joined the campaign for Mother's Day
· also in 1908: the first bill was presented in the U.S. Senate proposing establishment of Mother's Day, by Nebraska Senator Elmer Burkett, at the request of the Young Men's Christian Association. The proposal was killed by sending it back to committee, 33-14.
· 1909: Mother's Day services were held in 46 states plus Canada and Mexico
· Anna Jarvis gave up her job -- sometimes reported as a teaching job, sometimes as a job clerking in an insurance office -- to work full-time writing letters to politicians, clergy members, business leaders, women's clubs and anyone else she thought might have some influence
· Anna Jarvis was able to enlist the World's Sunday School Association in the lobbying campaign, a key success factor in convincing legislators in states and in the U.S. Congress to support the holiday
· 1912: West Virginia became the first state to adopt an official Mother's Day
· 1914: the U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution, and President Woodrow Wilson signed it, establishing Mother's Day, emphasizing women's role in the family (not as activists in the public arena, as Howe's Mother's Day had been)
· Texas Senators Cotton Tom Heflin and Morris Shepard introduced the joint resolution adopted in 1914. Both were ardent prohibitionists.
· Anna Jarvis became increasingly concerned over the commercialization of Mother's Day: "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit." She opposed the selling of flowers (see below) and also the use of greeting cards: "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write."
· 1923: Anna Jarvis filed suit against New York Governor Al Smith, over a Mother's Day celebration; when a court threw the suit out, she began a public protest and was arrested for disturbing the peace
· 1931: Anna Jarvis criticized Eleanor Roosevelt for her work with a Mother's Day committee that was not Jarvis' committee
· Anna Jarvis never had children of her own. She died in 1948, blind and penniless, and was buried next to her mother in a cemetery in the Philadelphia area.

International Mother's Days today
· Mother's Day in Britain -- or Mothering Sunday -- came to be celebrated again after World War II, when American servicemen brought the custom and commercial enterprises used it as an occasion for sales, etc.
· the second Sunday in May is Mother's Day not only in the United States, but also in other countries including Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Belgium. By the end of Anna Jarvis' life, Mother's Day was celebrated in more than 40 countries.
· in Spain, Mother's Day is December 8, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, so that not only mothers in one's family are honored, but also Mary, mother of Jesus.
· in France, Mother's Day is on the last Sunday of May. A special cake resembling a bouquet of flowers is presented to mothers at a family dinner.
· the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, the League of Women Voters and other organizations still organize protests on Mother's Day: The Million Mom March, protests at nuclear weapons sites, etc.

Carnations, Anna Jarvis and Mother's Day:
· Anna Jarvis used carnations at the first Mother's Day celebration, because carnations were her mother's favorite flower
· wearing a white carnation is to honor a deceased mother, wearing a pink carnation is to honor a living mother
· Anna Jarvis and the florist industry ended up disagreeing over the selling of flowers for Mother's Day
· as the industry publication, Florists' Review, put it, "This was a holiday that could be exploited."
· in one press release criticizing the floral industry, Anna Jarvis wrote "What will you do to route charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations?"
· when, in the 1930s, the U.S. Postal Service announced a Mother's Day stamp with the image of Whistler's Mother and a vase of white carnations, Anna Jarvis responded by campaigning against the stamp. She persuaded President Roosevelt to remove the words, Mother's Day, but not the white carnations
· Jarvis disrupted a meeting of the American War Mothers in the 1930s, protesting their sale of white carnations for Mother's Day, and was removed by the police
· in the words, again, of the Florists' Review, "Miss Jarvis was completely squelched." Mother's Day remains, in the United States, one of the best sales days for florists
· Anna Jarvis was confined to a nursing home at the end of her life, penniless. Her nursing home bills were paid, unbeknownst to her, by the Florist's Exchange

Some Figures:
· about 96% of American consumers take part in some way in Mother's Day (source: Hallmark)
· Mother's Day is widely reported as the peak day of the year for long distance telephone calls
· Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year for many restaurants
· about twice as many young women were childfree in the year 2000 as in the 1950s (source: Ralph Fevre, The Guardian, Manchester, March 26, 2001)

Moms Thru the Years

A century and a half ago, a mother-to-be faced danger and pain. Take a quick look at England in 1855, for example--where the way a woman lived determined her chances for a safe delivery.

Of all expectant mothers, a wealthy, healthy young wife had perhaps the least to fear. Her doctor and her peers gave her all the latest childbirth advice: eat fresh vegetables and fruit, avoid spices, take strolls in the garden, and resist your husband's bedroom advances, as pressure on the child might cause defects. That she even had a doctor was newfangled.

A few weeks before delivery, the wealthy young mother-to-be went into "confinement," staying in bed until the baby was born. Servants prepared a white-sheeted delivery room, with every concession for modesty. When the time came, a maid tucked a petticoat under the lady's arms to pull down after birth. The doctor might ask her to lie on her side, with knees bent, to avoid eye contact. She might not even be awake! In 1853, Queen Victoria was chloroformed for the birth of her son. And what was good enough for the queen. . . .

A country-dwelling, middle-class mother-to-be reaped the benefits of clean air and good food. Though she lacked the money to pay a doctor's fees, she probably had few qualms about using the local midwife, perhaps the same one who aided her mother.

Her delivery took place at home, in a spare room if she had one, or in her bedroom. Female relatives of a certain age were welcome to gather around. To ease an especially painful labor, the midwife might offer hard cider or wine, or in some cases, manipulate the cervix by hand, something a male doctor wouldn't dream of. Midwives relied on experience and common sense, and many had better delivery records than doctors. Some could claim to have delivered whole towns. But since they relied on nature to take its course, serious complications required a doctor's attention.

An inner-city factory worker or domestic servant had a vastly different experience. At least 70 percent of urban, working-class women suffered from anemia and rickets, a softening of the bones that caused narrow pelvises, which made labor far more difficult. Poor women also had to keep working, at backbreaking tasks that increased the chance of miscarriage. Healthy babies were born to such women, generally with help from a midwife, but the risks were great.

By 1900, the outlook for expectant women of all classes was rosier, as modern medicine and hospitals began to understand and address the dangers to mom and baby. In recent decades, many women have opted to return to an at-home, drug-free delivery, relying again on a midwife instead of a doctor. But whatever the method, what's important is that today, there's a lot more knowledge about how to keep mom and baby safe. Right, Ma?

Claire Vail
May 11, 2006