Mother’s Day Turns 100 Years Old

Mother’s Day is scheduled for May 11. It’s the 100^th anniversary of the day set aside to give mothers special tributes and gifts for their devotions to their families. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation establishing the second Sunday in May as the official day of the national celebration. 

Anna Jarvis petitioned the U.S. government to get the special day officially recognized on behalf of her late mother Ann Jarvis. The mother founded Mother’s Day Work Clubs in the late 1800s to help improve sanitary and overall health conditions for working men and women. This was prior to the benefits of labor unions. She was highly respected by people everywhere for helping abused laborers.

Anna Jarvis began promoting the annual practice of showing gratitude to mothers as a tribute to the humanitarian work her mother did. The idea of a special celebration started in 1908 when she held the first memorial for her late mother. Anna incorporated the Mother’s Day International Association.  She held the trademark for the phrase Mother’s Day. Her work to promote Mothers’ Day made her wealthy. 

By 1920 Anna petitioned the U.S.  government to remove Mother’s Day as an official celebration. Jarvis became discouraged with what she called the commercialization of the celebration. The selling and mailing of manufactured cards was especially disturbing to Jarvis. Her reason for disliking cards was never clearly known.

With the help of her sister, Jarvis continued to fight for the elimination of Mother’s Day until her death in 1948.  Her efforts drained her fortune.  She and her sister both died in poverty.  She never married or became a mother herself. Anna lost her money, ironically, from her efforts to stop people from celebrating the annual tribute that she began and then hated.

Throughout the world, businesses bring in an estimated 3.6 billion dollars a year in sales for Mother’s Day. All of Anna Jarvis’ efforts to disclaim Mother’s Day didn’t work and cost her a fortune.   

Mother’s Day has long had the greatest amount of telephone traffic in the country. Estimates for the percentages of top items bought for mothers on their special day are cards, 81%; flowers, 67%; and going out to eat, 56%.

How will you recognize the mothers in your life this year?

Thank you for reading this blog. See my web site at www.joevlatino.com. You can buy copies of my book of short stories, The Device, on the web and through Amazon.com.  Check here next week for a new blog.