January 15th, 2008 at 1:14 am (Mothers day) Mother’s Day . . .
Few of us are more than dimly aware of the history of our modern
celebration of these extraordinary women. You can perhaps recall
enouth of the history of Mother’s Day to know that it originated
in the hills of Appalachia and is now celebrated in countries
throughout the world. What you may not realize is that the
founder of Mother’s Day eventually confessed that she regretted
ever starting the tradition. In the United States, Mother’s Day
originated nearly 150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an
Appalachian homemaker, organized a “Mother’s Work Day” to raise
awareness of poor economic and health conditions affecting the
children in her community, a cause she believed would be best
advocated by mothers. Fifteen years later, Julia Ward Howe, a
pacifist, suffragist, and author of the lyrics to the “Battle
Hymn of the Republic,” proposed an annual event called Mother’s
Day, but the idea received little support. She organized a day
encouraging mothers to