For centuries, almost every culture has set aside a day to celebrate mothers and the role they play in the family, and in shaping society. It is a day to recognize not just biological moms, but adoptive mothers, mother-figures who helped raise you, and those who have nurtured you.
In the United States, the holiday was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held the first Mother’s Day service of worship at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Her campaign to make Mother’s Day a nationally recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Her mother had been a peace activist who cared for both Union and Confederate wounded in the Civil War. She and another peace activist and suffragist, Julia Ward Howe, urged authorities to create a “Mother’s Day For Peace.” Anna Jarvis wanted to set aside a day to honor all mothers because she believed a mother is “the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.” In addition to Jarvis, Notre Dame Football coach Frank E. Hering, was also an early proponent of having Mother’s Day made into a national observance and actively campaigned throughout the country to push the idea.
By 1911 all U.S. states observed the holiday,with some of them officially recognizing Mother’s Day as a local holiday (the first being West Virginia, Jarvis’ home state, in 1910). In 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother’s Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.
The holiday has grown over the decades, with restaurants offering brunch deals, florists making a killing selling flowers, candymakers pushing chocolates, and card companies cashing in. The National Retail Federation expects that about 84% of the population will celebrate, purchasing over $38 billion of goods — jewelry, flowers, and special outings — on their mothers. It has become the third largest retail holiday in the United States.
