Mother's Day History

Mother's Day is a holiday honoring motherhood that is observed in different forms throughout the world. The American incarnation of Mother's Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U. S. holiday in 1914. Jarvis would later denounce the holiday's commercialization and spent the later part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar. While dates and celebrations vary, Mother's Day most commonly falls on the second Sunday in May and traditionally involves presenting mothers with flowers, cards and other gifts.

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother's Day is the early Christian festival known as "mothering Sunday". Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their "mother church" - the main church in the vicinity of their home - for a special service. Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother's Day in the 1930's and 1940's.

More phone calls are made on Mother's Day than any other day of the year- Call your Mother!

All of us have special memories of our mothers and I would like to share one with you.

My mother and I wanted to go shoe shopping at the mall so we decided to meet at a specific time in our usual meeting place. I got there early (my mother was always late) and decided to look at a couple of shoe stores while I waited. I found the perfect shoes right away and purchased them. My mother arrived at the mall and I wasn't back at the meeting spot yet so she decided to look at some shoes. We finally met up with each other and I was excited to show my mom the shoes I bought. She looked at the shoes and started laughing and then she opened the box of shoes she bought and they were the same shoes, same color and SAME SIZE! We laughed and agreed that we both shared the same likes and dislikes often. I will always have that memory; she is with our heavenly father now and is missed every day.

Have a great Mother's Day