Mother’s Day is set apart every year in honor of motherhood. On the second Sunday in May, many families and churches make a special point of honoring mothers. Many people follow the custom of wearing a carnation on Mother’s Day. A colored carnation means that a person’s mother is living. A white carnation indicates that a person’s mother is dead.
A day for honoring mothers was observed many years ago in England. It was called Mothering Sunday, and came in mid-Lent. People in other European nations have observed similar days.
Julia Ward Howe made the first known suggestion for a Mother’s Day in the United States in 1872. She suggested that people observe a Mother’s Day on June 2 as a day dedicated to peace. For several years, she held an annual Mother’s Day meeting in Boston. Mary Towles Sasseen, a Kentucky schoolteacher, started conducting Mother’s Day celebrations in 1887. Frank E. Hering of South Bend, Indiana, launched a campaign for the observance of Mother’s Day in 1904.
Three years later, Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, began a campaign for a nationwide observance of Mother’s Day. She chose the second Sunday in May, and began the custom of wearing a carnation. On May 10, 1908, Mother’s Day celebrations were held in Grafton and Philadelphia. The service at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton honored the memory of Anna Jarvis’s own mother, Anna Reeves Jarvis.
At the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1912, a delegate from Andrews Church introduced a resolution recognizing Anna Jarvis as the founder of Mother’s Day. It suggested that the second Sunday in May be observed as Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day received national recognition on May 9, 1914. On that day, President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution of Congress recommending that Congress and the executive departments of the federal government observe Mother’s Day. The next year, President Wilson was authorized to proclaim Mother’s Day an annual national observance.
See also Jarvis, Anna .
