When people across America celebrate the centennial anniversary of Mother’s Day on May 11, they will have an Appalachian homemaker and three presidents to thank for it.
Many historians trace the earliest idea of a day honoring mothers back to the 16th-century Christian tradition of returning to one’s mother church once a year. In that way, children and their mothers would be reunited at least once during the year. A church document from 1854 refers to a day set aside as Mothering Sunday, which it said was a day "when every child should dine with its mother."
The modern-day celebration in the United States stems from the good works of Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, a West Virginia homemaker who organized Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to improve sanitation, aid families who needed medicine and provide help for households whose mothers suffered from tuberculosis.
Ann Jarvis’ efforts to help those in her community inspired daughter Anna Jarvis. In fact, out of love and respect for her mother, Anna launched a campaign to recognize all mothers. It’s said that she particularly remembered a Sunday School lesson taught by her mother in which she said, "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers." After her mother died, Anna Jarvis privately celebrated what she called Mother’s Day for the first time on May 12, 1907. The first public celebration was held the next year on May 10 at the former Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church.
Then Jarvis began to lobby businessmen, lawmakers and eventually Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to create a national holiday to honor mothers. She got her wish when, in 1914, President Wilson signed a bill into law that named Mother’s Day a nationally recognized holiday.
Since that time, Mother’s Day has become an important tradition for families and is celebrated in churches across the state and the nation with special services and recognitions.
The occasion has also become one of the busiest consumer holidays, with the National Retail Foundation (NRF) reporting that Americans are expected to spend approximately $15.8 billion this year (down slightly from 2007 due to consumer attempts to cut back). In a recent survey, the NRF found that 84 percent of consumers will recognize Mother’s Day, and most will give gifts of jewelry, meals, books, CDs, gift certificates, housewares, gardening tools, cards and flowers.
Ironically, Jarvis fought against this commercialization of the holiday she founded, saying she was disappointed when people started giving cards instead of spending the day at church with their mothers and telling them of their feelings themselves.
Today, churches in Alabama and across the nation strive to find the right balance in celebrating the holiday, with some of the most popular practices including recognizing mothers in their congregations, pastors preaching sermons on motherhood, and church families holding special Mother’s Day banquets.
Ideas for family outings across the state
May 16–17: Children’s Nature Weekend at DeSoto State Park, Fort Payne
256-782-5697
fieldschool.jsu.edu
May 29: Music and a Movie in
the Park, Foley
251-943-1200
foleycvb.com
June 1: Vulcan’s 104th
Birthday Bash, Birmingham
205-933-1409
vulcanpark.org
June 21: Alabama Blueberry
Festival, Brewton
251-867-3224
brewtonchamber.com
July 4: Independence Day 1776 at The American Village, Montevallo
205-665-3535
americanvillage.org
Aug. 8–9: Riverfest 2008,
Wetumpka
334-567-4811
wetumpkachamber.com
Aug. 30: Crape Myrtle Festival, 16th Annual, Ardmore
256-423-7588
ardmorechamberofcommerce.com
Sept. 27: Kids’ Fishing Derby, Hoover
205-682-8019
aldridgegardens.com
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