Every second Sunday in May, people celebrate Mother’s Day by buying gifts and showering their mom with a little extra attention. It is obvious that there is no question that the woman who raises us deserves our greatest love and affection, but there are actually reasons as to why we celebrate Mother’s Day.
It all started back in 1905, when Anna Jarvis began campaigning to make Mother’s Day a recognized holiday in the United States. Following her mom’s death that same year, the younger Jarvis wanted to honor her mother by continuing her work and working to create a day to celebrate moms everywhere.
After gaining financial backing from John Wanamaker, a Philadelphia department store owner, in May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. Following the success of her first Mother’s Day, Jarvis—who remained unmarried and childless her whole life—resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar.
By 1912 many states, towns, and churches had adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, and Jarvis had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
In the years since, the holiday has become quite commercialized, as many companies promote mom-specific gifts and cards. Jarvis openly protested the day’s commercialization prior to her death in 1948. She insisted that people should honor their mothers through wholeheartedly handwritten letters expressing love and gratitude, rather than buying tangible things.
Now people celebrate Mother’s Day in various ways. Some prefer to shower their mothers with gifts and cards, some do the household chores for their mothers and let them rest, and some come home to see their mothers.
Find the gifts full of love for your mother here.
However sometimes there is debate and discussion about whether Mother’s Day should be celebrated. Not all people have a good relationship with their mothers. Some have lost their mother since they were young, or even never knew any motherly figure in their life.
Due to this, nowadays the celebration of Mother’s Day is not limited to giving gratitude to one’s birth mother. People also give gratitude to the person who raised them, even though they are not their biological mothers. Those who have lost their mother also celebrate it with their own way. Furthermore, mothers also have gatherings to celebrate what it is to become a mother. Everyone has their own version of Mother’s Day celebration.
Regardless of the way people celebrate it, the essence of Mother’s Day remains the same: to appreciate and express gratitude to mothers. As Jarvis once said, no one in the world has done more for you than your mom.
Do you celebrate Mother’s Day? Do share in the comments below…
