happy mother’s day

In the U.S. Mother’s Day had it’s origin in West Virginia. Did you know that? The modern Mother’s Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia, as a day to honor mothers and motherhood.

On May 12, 1907, two years after the death of her own mother, Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her and embarked upon a campaign to make “Mother’s Day” a recognized holiday. She succeeded in 1914 when the day became nationally recognized. By the 1920s, Anna Jarvis had become soured by the commercialization of the holiday. She and her sister Ellsinore spent their family inheritance campaigning against the holiday. Both died in poverty.

Jarvis, says her New York Times obituary, became embittered because too many people sent their mothers a printed greeting card. As she said,

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 petty sentiment!

Anna Marie Jarvis never married and had no children. (Wikipedia)

5 Responses to “happy mother’s day”

1. steph says:

   11 May, 2009 at 17:34

   I didn’t know all of this..that is sad about the women..she died bitter and alone..i got my mom a card…but i also cleaned out her closet..the best present of all!
2. Rick Lee says:

   11 May, 2009 at 21:14

   I think my wife would be amused by Anna Jarvis’ attitude toward cards. My wife spends a huge amount of time shopping for “just the right card” and apparently thinks this is extremely important.
3. Rick Lee says:

   11 May, 2009 at 21:21

   BTW… last year was the official 100th anniversary of Mother’s Day so I took my Mother to the Shrine in Grafton. It rained torrential buckets and we had difficulty actually getting from the car to the building. We wanted to go to a railroad museum across the street to see a photography exhibit but we couldn’t get in because Hillary Clinton was having a campaign stop in there that afternoon. We decided to go out to see the Anna Jarvis Homeplace but when we got close the road was blocked by police because Hillary and Chelsea were visiting the homeplace right then. We left for home… at least we got some funny stories out of the trip.
4. Cat says:

   12 May, 2009 at 15:49

   So the person that started Mother’s Day was never even a mother? Interesting. I didn’t know any of this…thanks.
5. MJH says:

   14 June, 2009 at 18:03

   Wow. Never knew that.

   It’s weird, to me, to see our mothers at such a young age.