This archive report was first published on 9 May 2021.
Published on May 9, 2021, Mother's Day is a day of celebration and appreciation for mothers and motherhood, but its origins and history are more complex than you might think.
It is a day that comes with its glitz and glamour as people all over the world go out of their way to celebrate it to the best of their ability. However, the day was originally started as a movement to better the lives of Americans.
Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, whose mother had organized women's groups to promote friendship and health, originated Mother's Day. On May 12, 1907, she held a memorial service at her late mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia.
Within five years, virtually every state was observing the day, and in 1914, U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson made it a national holiday. The day was originally started by a trio of women: Ann Reeves Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe, and Ann's daughter, Anna M. Jarvis.
Interestingly enough, Jarvis spent the last years of her life trying to abolish the holiday she had brought into being. Over time, the day was expanded to include others, such as grandmothers and aunts, who played mothering roles.
However, the day has turned out to be one where mothers who have raised and nurtured their children with love and courage are celebrated in the society today. Festivals honouring mothers and mother goddesses date to ancient times, with the Phrygians holding a festival for Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, and the Greeks for the goddess Rhea.
