Mothers
Day (Second Sunday in May)
Origin: The result of a one-woman crusade launched in 1908 by Anna
Jarvis, a West Virginia schoolteacher whose mother had died three
years earlier. On May 10, 1908, she persuaded pastors in nearby
Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to hold
Mothers Day services in their churches. (They handed out
carnations, Annas mothers favourite flower.) From there she
launched a letter-writing campaign to U.S. governors, congressmen,
clergy, media, etc. She wasnt immediately successful, but by 1914
Congress endorsed the idea. On May 9, 1914, Present Wilson issued a
proclamation establishing the holiday.
HOWEVER
Jarvis who had no children came to hate the holiday she had
created. She railed against its commercialism, and especially
loathed flowers and greeting cards. Any mother would rather have a
line of the worst scribble from her son or daughter. She
complained, than any fancy greeting card. She became a recluse
who never left her house, posting Warning Stay Away signs on
her front lawn. She refused to give interviews, but a reporter
posing as a deliveryman managed to speak with her. She told me
with terrible bitterness that she was sorry she had ever started
Mothers Day, he revealed.
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No matter what, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! 