The photo is of my mother, Esther Jean Iris Thompson Reed. She passed away in 2011 at the age of 85. My mother loved musicals. I attended many put on by the local community theater Town & Gown in Stillwater, Oklahoma. My sister Julie even appeared in one of them. Mother always played music on the hi-fi. I can remember us prancing around the living room like horses at Christmas to the tune of “Sleigh Ride.” After I moved away, when she and my dad came to visit, I took them to musicals. I loved watching my mother’s face light up as she gazed upon the stage. I lived in East Texas, and we went to see the nationally known Texas Shakespeare Festival — which also included musicals. Local people could even invite the cast/crew to their homes for dinner which I did several times. TSF assigned cast/crew members to the dinners, so you never knew who would show up. My favorite comment from my mother was when we looked outside and saw the actors who played Sir Lancelot, Lady Guinevere and King Arthur in "Camelot" walking toward the door. Sir Lancelot was a strapping young man that my mother admired. She shouted, “It IS Lancelot! Quick, how can I look 22?” I’m sure you have favorite stories or memories of your mothers. Let’s learn more about Mother’s Day.
According to Wikipedia, Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. It complements similar celebrations, largely pushed by commercial interests, honoring family members, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day and Grandparents Day.
While some countries have a multi-century history of a day to celebrate mothers, the modern American version of holiday began in the United States at the initiative of Anna Jarvis in the early 20th century who organized the first Mother's Day service of worship and celebration at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia, which serves as the International Mother's Day Shrine today. It is not directly related to the many traditional celebrations of mothers and motherhood that have existed throughout the world over thousands of years, such as the Greek cult to Cybele, the mother deity Rhea, the Roman festival of Hilaria or the other Christian ecclesiastical Mothering Sunday celebration — associated with the image of Mother Church. However, in some countries, Mother's Day is still synonymous with these older traditions.
The American version of Mother's Day has been criticized for having become too commercialized. Founder Jarvis herself, who began the celebration as a liturgical observance, regretted this commercialism and expressed that this was never her intention. In response, Constance Adelaide Smith successfully advocated for Mothering Sunday as a commemoration of a broader definition of motherhood in many other parts of the English-speaking world.
Establishment of holiday
The modern holiday was first celebrated in 1907, when Anna Jarvis held the first Mother's Day service of worship at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Andrew's Methodist Church now serves as the International Mother's Day Shrine. Her campaign to make Mother's Day a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Ann Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War and created Mother's Day Work Clubs to address public health issues. She and another peace activist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe had been urging for the creation of a Mother’s Day dedicated to peace. Forty years before it became an official holiday, Howe had made her Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870, which called upon mothers of all nationalities to band together to promote the “amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.” Anna Jarvis wanted to honor this peace promotion and 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 1908, the U.S. Congress rejected a proposal to make Mother's Day an official holiday, joking that they would also have to proclaim a "Mother-in-Law's Day." However, owing to the efforts of Anna Jarvis, 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.
Although Jarvis, who started Mother's Day as a liturgical service, was successful in founding the celebration, she became resentful of the commercialization of the holiday. By the early 1920s, Hallmark Cards and other companies had started selling Mother's Day cards. Jarvis believed that the companies had misinterpreted and exploited the idea of Mother's Day and that the emphasis of the holiday was on sentiment, not profit. As a result, she organized boycotts of Mother's Day and threatened to issue lawsuits against the companies involved. Jarvis argued that people should appreciate and honor their mothers through handwritten letters expressing their love and gratitude, instead of buying gifts and pre-made cards. Jarvis protested at a candy makers' convention in Philadelphia in 1923 and at a meeting of American War Mothers in 1925. By this time, carnations had become associated with Mother's Day, and the selling of carnations by the American War Mothers to raise money angered Jarvis, who was arrested for disturbing the peace.
Internationally, there were immediate concerns surrounding the exclusive association of Mother's Day with a biological definition of motherhood. Constance Adelaide Smith instead advocated for Mothering Sunday, an already-existing Christian ecclesiastical celebration in which the faithful visit the church in which they received the sacrament of baptism, as an equivalent celebration. She referred to medieval traditions of celebrating Mother Church; “mothers of earthly homes;” Mary, mother of Jesus; and Mother Nature. Her efforts were successful in the British Isles and other parts of the English-speaking world.
Spelling
In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrase "Second Sunday in May, Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis, Founder" and created the Mother's Day International Association. She specifically noted that "Mother's" should "be a singular possessive, for each family to honor its own mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world." This is also the spelling used by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his 1914 presidential proclamation, by the U.S. Congress in relevant bills and by various U.S. presidents in their proclamations concerning Mother's Day.
Dates around the world
While the United States holiday was adopted by some other countries, existing celebrations, held on different dates, honoring motherhood have become described as "Mother's Day," such as Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom or in Greece, the Eastern Orthodox celebration of the presentation of Jesus Christ to the temple — February 2 of Julian calendar. Both the secular and religious Mother’s Day are present in Greece. Mothering Sunday is often referred to as "Mother's Day" even though it is an unrelated celebration.
In some countries, the date adopted is one significant to the majority religion, such as Virgin Mary Day in Catholic countries. Other countries selected a date with historical significance. For example, Bolivia's Mother's Day is a fixed date, commemorating a battle in which women participated to defend their children.
Some countries, such as Russia, celebrate International Women's Day instead of Mother's Day or simply celebrate both holidays, which is the custom in Ukraine. Kyrgyzstan has recently introduced Mother's Day, but "year on year International Women's Day is certainly increasing in status."
Religion
In certain traditional branches of Christianity, the holiday is strongly associated with revering the Virgin Mary. In some Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican homes, families have a special shrine on their home altar devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In many Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a special prayer service is held in honor of the Theotokos Virgin Mary.
In Islam there is no concept of Mother's Day, but the Quran teaches that children should give priority to loving their mother over their father.
In Hindu tradition, Mother's Day is called "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" or "Mother Pilgrimage fortnight" and is celebrated in countries with a Hindu population, especially in Nepal, where mothers are honored with special foods. The holiday is observed on the new moon day in the month of Baisakh i.e., April/May. This celebration is based on Hindu religion, and it pre-dates the creation of the U.S.-inspired celebration by at least a few centuries.
In Buddhism, the festival of Ullambana is derived from the story of Maudgalyayana and his mother.
Arab world
Mother's Day in most Arab countries is celebrated on March 21. It was introduced in Egypt by journalist Mustafa Amin and was first celebrated in 1956. The practice has since been adopted by other Arab countries.
Argentina
In Argentina, Mother's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of October. The holiday was originally celebrated on October 11, the old liturgical date for the celebration of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary but after the Second Vatican Council, which moved the Virgin Mary festivity to January 1, Mother's Day started to be celebrated the third Sunday of October because of popular tradition. Argentina is the only country in the world that celebrates Mother's Day on this date.
Australia
In Australia, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Australia celebrated Mother’s Day for the first time in 1910 with special church services; however, it was not popularly observed until the 1920s. The tradition of giving gifts on Mother’s Day in Australia started in 1924. Sydney woman Janet Heyden was inspired to collect charitable gifts for lonely, old mothers in Newington hospital who had lost husbands and sons during WWI. Because it is autumn in Australia for Mother’s Day and carnations are a spring flower, white chrysanthemums are the traditional Mother’s Day flower in Australia.
Belgium
In Belgium, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. In the week before this holiday children make little presents at primary school, which they give to their mothers in the early morning of Mother's Day. Typically, the father will buy croissants and other sweet breads and pastries and bring these to the mother while she is still in bed — the beginning of a day of pampering for the mother. There are also many people who celebrate Mother's Day on August 15 instead; these are mostly people around Antwerp, who consider that day — Assumption of Mary — the classical Mother's Day and the observance in May an invention for commercial reasons. It was originally established on that day as the result of a campaign by Frans Van Kuyck, a painter and alderman from Antwerp.
Bolivia
In Bolivia, Mother's Day is celebrated on May 27. El Día de la Madre Boliviana was passed into law on November 8, 1927, during the presidency of Hernando Siles Reyes. The date commemorates the Battle of La Coronilla, which took place on May 27, 1812, during the Bolivian War of Independence, in what is now the city of Cochabamba. In this battle, women fighting for the country's independence were slaughtered by the Spanish army. It is not a public holiday, but all schools hold activities and festivities throughout the day.
Brazil
In Brazil, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. The first Mother's Day in Brazil was promoted by Associação Cristã de Moços de Porto Alegre or Young Men's Christian Association of Porto Alegre on May 12, 1918. In 1932, then President Getúlio Vargas made the second Sunday of May the official date for Mother's Day. In 1947, Archbishop Jaime de Barros Câmara, Cardinal-Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, decided that this holiday would also be included in the official calendar of the Catholic Church.
Mother's Day is not an official holiday, but it is widely observed and typically involves spending time with and giving gifts to one's mother. Because of this, it is considered one of the celebrations most related to consumerism in the country, second only to Christmas Day as the most commercially lucrative holiday.
China
Mother's Day is becoming more popular in China. Carnations are a very popular Mother's Day gift and the most sold flowers in relation to the day. In 1997 Mother's Day was set as the day to help poor mothers and to remind people of the poor mothers in rural areas such as China's western region. In the People's Daily, the Chinese government's official newspaper, an article explained that "despite originating in the United States, people in China accept the holiday without hesitation because it is in line with the country's traditional ethics — respect for the elderly and filial piety towards parents."
In recent years, Communist Party member Li Hanqiu began to advocate for the official adoption of Mother's Day in memory of Meng Mu, the mother of Mèng Zǐ. He formed a non-governmental organization called Chinese Mothers' Festival Promotion Society, with the support of 100 Confucian scholars and lecturers of ethics. Li and the Society want to replace the Western-style gift of carnations with lilies, which, in ancient times, were planted by Chinese mothers when children left home. Mother's Day remains an unofficial festival, except in a small number of cities.
France
In France, amidst alarm at the low birth rate, there were attempts in 1896 and 1904 to create a national celebration honoring the mothers of large families. In 1906 ten mothers who had nine children each were given an award recognizing "High Maternal Merit." American World War I soldiers fighting in France popularized the U.S. Mother's Day holiday created by Anna Jarvis. They sent so much mail back to their country for Mother's Day that the Union Franco-Américaine created a postal card for that purpose. In 1918, also inspired by Jarvis, the town of Lyon wanted to celebrate a "journée des Mères," but instead decided to celebrate a "Journée Nationale des Mères de familles nombreuses." The holiday was more inspired by anti-depopulation efforts than by the U.S. holiday, with medals awarded to the mothers of large families. The French government made the day official in 1920 as a day for mothers of large families. Since then the French government awards the Médaille de la Famille française to mothers of large families.
In 1941, by initiative of Philippe Pétain, the wartime Vichy government used the celebration in support of their policy to encourage larger families, but all mothers were now honored — even mothers with smaller families.
In 1950, after the war, the celebration was reinstated. The law of May 24, 1950 required in Article 1 that the Republic pay official homage to French mothers. Article 2 stated it should be celebrated on the last Sunday in May as the "Fête des Mères"(except when Pentecost fell on that day, in which case it was moved to the first Sunday in June. Article 3 stated that all expenditures shall be covered from the budget of the Ministry of Public Health and Population.
During the 1950s, the celebration lost all its patriotic and natalist ideologies, and became heavily commercialized.
In 1956, the celebration was given a budget and integrated into the new Code de l'action Sociale et des familles. In 2004 responsibility for the holiday was transferred to the minister responsible for families.
Germany
In the 1920s, Germany had the lowest birthrate in Europe, and the declining trend was continuing. This was attributed to women's participation in the labor market. At the same time, influential groups in society — politicians of left and right, churchwomen and feminists — believed that mothers should be honored but could not agree on how to do so. However, all groups strongly agreed on the promotion of the values of motherhood. In 1923, this resulted in the unanimous adoption of Muttertag, the Mother's Day holiday as imported from America and Norway. The head of the Association of German Florists cited "the inner conflict of our ‘volk’ and the loosening of the family" as his reason for introducing the holiday. He expected that the holiday would unite the divided country. In 1925, the Mother's Day Committee joined the task force for the recovery of the “volk,” and the holiday stopped depending on commercial interests and began emphasizing the need to increase the population in Germany by promoting motherhood.
The holiday was then seen as a means to encourage women to bear more children, which nationalists saw as a way to rejuvenate the nation. The holiday did not celebrate individual women, but an idealized standard of motherhood. The progressive forces resisted the implementation of the holiday because it was backed by so many conservatives and because they saw it as a way to eliminate the rights of working women. Die Frau, the newspaper of the Federation of German Women's Associations, refused to recognize the holiday. Many local authorities adopted their own interpretation of the holiday: it would be a day to support economically larger families or single-mother families. The guidelines for the subsidies had eugenics criteria, but there is no indication that social workers ever implemented them in practice, and subsidies were given preferentially to families in economic need rather than to families with more children or "healthier" children.
With the Nazi party in power during 1933–1945, the situation changed radically. The promotion of Mother's Day increased in many European countries, including the UK and France. From the position of the German Nazi government, the role of mothers was to give healthy children to the German nation. The Nazi party's intention was to create a pure "Aryan race" according to Nazi eugenics. Among other Mother's Day ideas, the government promoted the death of a mother's sons in battle as the highest embodiment of patriotic motherhood.
The Nazis quickly declared Mother's Day an official holiday and put it under the control of the National Socialist People's Welfare Association or NSV and the National Socialist Women Organization or NSF. This created conflicts with other organizations that resented Nazi control of the holiday, including Catholic and Protestant churches and local women's organizations. Local authorities resisted the guidelines from the Nazi government and continued assigning resources to families who were in economic need, much to the dismay of the Nazi officials.
In 1938, the government began issuing an award called Mother's Cross, according to categories that depended on the number of children a mother had. The medal was awarded on Mother's Day and also on other holidays due to a large number of recipients. The Cross was an effort to encourage women to have more children, and recipients were required to have at least four.
Iran
In Iran, Mother's Day is celebrated on Jumada al-thani 20. This is the sixth month in the Islamic calendar — a lunar calendar, and every year the holiday falls on a different day of the Gregorian calendar. This is the birthday anniversary of Fatimah, Prophet Muhammad's only daughter according to Shia Islam. On this day, banners reading "Ya Fatemeah or O! Fatemeh" are displayed on "government buildings, private buildings, public streets and car windows." Mother's Day was originally observed on December 16, but the date was changed after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The celebration is both Women's Day — replacing International Women's Day — and Mother's Day.
In 1960, the Institute for Women Protection adopted the Western holiday and established it on Azar 25 or December 16, the date the Institute was founded. The Institute's action had the support of Empress Farah Pahlavi, the wife of the last Shah of Persia, who promoted the construction of maternity clinics in remote parts of the country to commemorate the day. The Pahlavi regime used the holiday to promote "gender ideologies" of the regime. The Shah's government honored and gave awards to women who represented the idealized view of the regime, including mothers who had many healthy children.
According to Shahla Haeri, the Islamic Republic government has used the holiday to "control and channel women's movements" and to promote role models for the traditional concept of family. Fatimah is seen by these critics as the chosen model of a woman completely dedicated to certain traditionally sanctioned feminine roles. However, supporters of the choice contend that there is much more to her life story than simply such "traditional" roles.
Israel
The Jewish population of Israel used to celebrate Mother's Day on Shevat 30 of the Jewish calendar, which falls between January 30 and March 1. The celebration was set as the same date that Henrietta Szold died — February 13, 1945. She had no biological children, but her organization Youth Aliyah rescued many Jewish children from Nazi Germany and provided for them. She also championed children's rights. Szold is considered the "mother" of all those children, and that is why her annual remembrance day was set as Mother's Day. The holiday has evolved over time, becoming a celebration of mutual love inside the family, called Family Day. This holiday is mainly celebrated in preschools with an activity to which parents are invited. Mother's Day is mainly celebrated by children at kindergartens. There are no longer mutual gifts among members of the family, and there is no longer any commercialization of the celebration. It is not an official holiday.
Mexico
In Mexico, the government of Álvaro Obregón imported the Mother's Day holiday from the U.S. in 1922, and the newspaper Excélsior held a massive promotional campaign for the holiday that year. The conservative government tried to use the holiday to promote a more conservative role for mothers in families, but that perspective was criticized by the socialists as promoting an unrealistic image of a woman who was not good for much more than breeding.
In the mid-1930s, the leftist government of Lázaro Cárdenas promoted the holiday as a "patriotic festival." The Cárdenas government tried to use the holiday as a vehicle for various efforts: to stress the importance of families as the basis for national development, to benefit from the loyalty that Mexicans felt towards their mothers, to introduce new morals to Mexican women and to reduce the influence that the church and the Catholic right exerted over women. The government sponsored the holiday in the schools. However, ignoring the strict guidelines from the government, theatre plays were filled with religious icons and themes. Consequently, the "national celebrations" became "religious fiestas" despite the efforts of the government.
Soledad Orozco García, the wife of President Manuel Ávila Camacho, promoted the holiday during the 1940s, resulting in an important state-sponsored celebration. The 1942 celebration lasted a full week and included an announcement that all women could reclaim their pawned sewing machines from the Monte de Piedad at no cost.
Due to Orozco's promotion, the Catholic National Synarchist Union took heed of the holiday around 1941. Shop-owner members of the Party of the Mexican Revolution — now the Institutional Revolutionary Party — observed a custom allowing women from humble classes to pick a free Mother's Day gift from a shop to bring home to their families. The Synarchists worried that this promoted both materialism and the idleness of lower classes, and in turn, reinforced the systemic social problems of the country. Currently this holiday practice is viewed as very conservative, but the 1940s' UNS saw Mother's Day as part of the larger debate on the modernization that was happening at the time. This economic modernization was inspired by U.S. models and was sponsored by the state. The fact that the holiday was originally imported from the U.S. was seen as evidence of an attempt at imposing capitalism and materialism in Mexican society.
The UNS and the clergy of the city of León interpreted the government's actions as an effort to secularize the holiday and to promote a more active role for women in society. They concluded that the government's long-term goal was to cause women to abandon their traditional roles at home in order to spiritually weaken men. They also saw the holiday as an attempt to secularize the cult to the Virgin Mary, inside a larger effort to de-Christianize several holidays. The government sought to counter these claims by organizing widespread masses and asking religious women to assist with the state-sponsored events in order to "de-paganize" them. The clergy preferred to promote July 2 celebration of the Santísima Virgen de la Luz, the patron of León, Guanajuato, in replacement of Mother's Day. In 1942, at the same time as Soledad's greatest celebration of Mother's Day, the clergy organized the 210th celebration of the Virgin Mary with a large parade in León.
There is a consensus among scholars that the Mexican government abandoned its revolutionary initiatives during the 1940s, including its efforts to influence Mother's Day.
Today the "Día de las Madres" is an unofficial holiday in Mexico held each year on May 10, the day on which it was first celebrated in Mexico.
In Mexico, to show affection and appreciation to the mother, it is traditional to start the celebration with the famous song "Las Mañanitas", either a cappella, with the help of a mariachi or a contracted trio. Families usually gather to celebrate, trying to spend as much time as possible with mothers to honor them. They bring some dishes and eat together or visit a restaurant.
Nepal
In Nepal, there is a festival equivalent to Mother's Day, called Mata Tirtha Aunsi ("Mother Pilgrimage New Moon") or Mata Tirtha Puja ("Mother Pilgrimage Worship"). It is celebrated according to the lunar calendar. It falls on the last day of the dark fortnight in the month of Baishakh which falls in April–May; in 2015, it will occur on April 18. The dark fortnight lasts for 15 days from the full moon to the new moon. This festival is observed to commemorate and honor mothers, and it is celebrated by giving gifts to mothers and remembering mothers who are no more.
To honor mothers who have died, it is the tradition to go on a pilgrimage to the Mata Tirtha ponds, located 6 km to the southwest of downtown Kathmandu. The nearby Mata Tirtha village is named after these ponds. Previously, the tradition was observed primarily by the Newar community and other people living in the Kathmandu Valley. Now this festival is widely celebrated across the country.
Many tragic folklore legends have been created, suggesting different reasons why this pond became a pilgrimage site. The most popular version says that, in ancient times, the mother of a shepherd died, and he made offerings to a nearby pond. There he saw the face of his mother in the water, with her hand taking the offerings. Since then, many people visited the pond, hoping to see their deceased mothers’ faces. Pilgrims believe that they will bring peace to their mothers' souls by visiting the sacred place. There are two ponds. The larger one is for ritual bathing. The smaller one is used to "look upon mother's face" and is fenced by iron bars to prevent people from bathing in it.
Traditionally, in the Kathmandu valley the southwestern corner is reserved for women and women-related rituals, and the northeastern is for men and men-related rituals. The worship place for Mata Tirtha Aunsi is located in Mata Tirtha in the southwestern half of the valley, while the worship place for Gokarna Aunsi, the equivalent celebration for deceased fathers, is located in Gokarna, Nepal, in the northeastern half. This division is reflected in many aspects of the life in Kathmandu valley.
Mother's Day is known as Aama ko Mukh Herne Din in Nepali, which literally means "day to see mother's face." In Nepal Bhasa, the festival is known as Mām yā Khwā Swayegu, which can be translated as "to look upon mother's face."
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, Mother's Day was introduced as early as 1910 by the Dutch branch of the Salvation Army. The Royal Dutch Society for Horticulture and Botany, a group protecting the interest of Dutch florists, worked to promote the holiday; they hoped to emulate the commercial success achieved by American florists. They were imitating the campaign already underway by florists in Germany and Austria, but they were aware that the traditions had originated in the U.S.
Florists launched a major promotional effort in 1925. This included the publication of a book of articles written by famous intellectuals, radio broadcasts, newspapers ads and the collaboration of priests and teachers who wanted to promote the celebration for their own reasons. In 1931 the second Sunday of May was adopted as the official celebration date. In the mid-1930s the slogan Moederdag – Bloemendag or Mother's Day – Flowers' Day was coined, and the phrase was popular for many years. In the 1930s and 1940s, "Mother's Day cakes" were given as gifts in hospitals and to the Dutch Queen, who is known as the "mother of the country." Other trade groups tried to cash in on the holiday and to give new meaning to the holiday in order to promote their own wares as gifts.
Roman Catholic priests complained that the holiday interfered with the honoring of the Virgin Mary, the divine mother, which took place during the whole month of May. In 1926 Mother's Day was celebrated on July 7 in order to address these complaints. Catholic organizations and priests tried to Christianize the holiday, but those attempts were rendered futile around the 1960s when the church lost influence, and the holiday was completely secularized.
In later years, the initial resistance disappeared, and even leftist newspapers stopped their criticism and endorsed Mother's Day.
In the 1980s, the American origin of the holiday was still not widely known, so feminist groups who opposed the perpetuation of gender roles sometimes claimed that Mother's Day was invented by Nazis and celebrated on the birthday of Klara Hitler, Hitler's mother.
United States
The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In 1872 Julia Ward Howe called for women to join in support of disarmament and asked for June 2, 1872, to be established as a "Mother's Day for Peace." Her 1870 "Appeal to womanhood throughout the world" is sometimes referred to as Mother's Day Proclamation. But Howe's day was not for honoring mothers but for organizing pacifist mothers against war. In the 1880s and 1890s there were several further attempts to establish an American "Mother's Day," but these did not succeed beyond the local level.
In the United States, Mother's Day remains one of the biggest days for sales of flowers, greeting cards, and the like; Mother's Day is also the biggest holiday for long-distance telephone calls. Moreover, churchgoing is also popular on Mother's Day, yielding the highest church attendance after Christmas Eve and Easter. Many worshippers celebrate the day with carnations, colored if the mother is living and white if she is dead.
Mother's Day continues to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions.
It is possible that the holiday would have withered over time without the support and continuous promotion of the florist industries and other commercial industries. Other Protestant holidays from the same time, such as Children's Day and Temperance Sunday, do not have the same level of popularity.
Beautiful picture and great story, sissy!