MOTHER'S DAY HISTORY

Mother’s Day is a special day for people toreflect on the importance of mothers in their life and thank them for their unconditional love and support.

In the mid 1850s an Appalachian homemaker named Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis wanted to raise awareness of the poor conditions in her community so she established a day called "Mother's Work Day”.

Meanwhile, poet and social activist Julia Ward Howe (author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic") wrote a Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870, which expressed her anti-war sentiments, but didn’t aim to create a Mother’s Day as we know it.

Ann Jarvis, who died on May 8, 1905, influenced the lives of many women, including her daughter Anna, who devoted much of her life to campaigning for a national holiday to commemorate all mothers and particularly her own.

In 1907, Anna Jarvis began work to memorialize the life of her mother. Anna felt children often failed to appreciate their mothers enough while their mother was still alive. She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.

Her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia held the first celebration on the second anniversary of Ann Jarvis' death on May 10, 1908. Built in 1873, the church is a National Historic Landmark and is now the International Mother’s Day Shrine.

Mrs. Jarvis' favorite flower was the white carnation and as a tribute to her, they were handed out at the service. This began the tradition of wearing a white carnation on Mother’s Day if your mother is deceased and a colored carnation if your mother is living.

Anna Jarvis also began to campaign prominent businessmen, clergymen and politicians to create a national Mother's Day. By 1911, nearly all the states were celebrating the day on their own, but it wasn't until 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day and made it a national holiday.

People all over the world spend at least a day every year to honor their mother. In the U.S. and several other parts of the world, including Japan, Australia and parts of Europe, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. In the England and Ireland, Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

In Mexico, Mothers Day is always celebrated on May 10th. Children honor their mothers and thank them for their efforts in bringing them up. According to a custom in Mexico, sons and daughters come to the Family Home on the eve of Mothers Day on May 9. In Mexico, widespread recognition of Día de las Madres” or Mothers Day began in 1922 when a journalist, Rafael Alducín wrote an article advocating the celebration of Mother's Day throughout the country and May 10th became the universal day of celebration in Mexico.

Mother's Day is Sunday and there is still time to order flowers. To view our selection of flowers and plants for the Mother's Day holiday, simply visit our website at www.phoenixflowershops.com