Sunday, May 9, 2010

the mother of mother's day

"A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment."
Anna Jarvis


mother's day was founded by anna jarvis, a good ol' American lady from West Virginia.
after anna's mother passed away, she threw a memorial event in her honor. in 1907, anna began an aggressive campaign to make mother's day a nationally recognized holiday, and succeeded in 1914. at the time, mother's day was celebrated by wearing a red or white carnation flower in honor of your mother.

miss jarvis, however, was not at all happy with the way people began to commercialize the holiday. she was interested in reforming people to be more respectful to their mothers and was less concerned with the revenue generated by the holiday. she believed printed cards were a sign of utter laziness and disrespect. never a mother herself, anna jarvis was respected when she died at 84 years of age, and the church bells tolled 84 times.

5 comments:

Michael Rector said...

I did not know that, thank you very much for sharing.
I've always used mothers day for appreciating not spending. My mom has always preferred it that way, always saying "You don't need to buy me anything." I never have bought her anything for this holiday, but I've always appreciated her on this day. When I was younger I'd make her things at school and at home for her for this day. Help her more around the house and so on. Now that I'm out of the house I made sure to call her today and we talked for about an hour and a half. Love my mom.

Abigail Wise said...

I didn't know that either! Very interesting. I love my mom so much and I think it's so important for every mom to know how much they mean to us.

Davis L. Bigelow said...

I'm mostly with Anna, but the cards I bought for my wife and mother were better than anything I could have created on my own. I did write some of my own words in them. Perhaps Anna would approve. Personally, I think mothers are awesome and I think I need to remember that fact a little more often on all the 364 un-Mother's Days of the year!! Wish me luck - and feel free to take the noble challenge yourself!

ershadsocal said...

Let's make everyday a mother's day by taking good care of our mother.

Heaven said...

I understand what she means about cards being lazy...but I love them. When I get a card, for my birthday or just for encouragement, I always put them on my dresser so I can see and read them for a couple months afterward. I guess the point is, gifts need to be given with love and attention.

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