According to http://www.chiff.com/a/mothers-day-history.htm this is the history of celebrating Mother’s Day in the USA! Thanks for bringing us the real story! Happy Mother’s Day ladies! Men your day is coming:)
“Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, suggested the idea of an International Mother’s day to celebrate peace and motherhood in 1872. There were many other women who were active with local groups holding annual Mother’s Day remembrances, but most were more religious gatherings and not the holiday that we know today.
 Julia Ward Howe first championed a day to celebrate peace and motherhood in 1872. |
One of the women, who was working on establishing Mother’s Day as a national celebration was the mother of Anna Jarvis. Mrs. Jarvis held an annual gathering, Mother’s Friendship Day, to heal the pain of the Civil War. After she died in 1905, Anna campaigned for the establishment of an official Mother’s Day to commemorate her mother.
“Miss Anna Jarvis was as good as her word. She devoted her entire life to the struggle to have Mother’s Day declared a national holiday. In the spring of 1908, Anna wrote to the Superintendent of Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where her mother had taught Sunday School classes for over 20 years. She requested that a Mother’s Day service be held in honor of her mother.
Thus, the first official Mother’s Day celebration was held at Andrew’s Methodist Church on May 10, 1908, with 407 persons in attendance. Anna Jarvis sent 500 white carnations to the church in Grafton. One was to be worn by each son and daughter and two by each mother in attendance.
Another service was held in Philadelphia later that afternoon where Anna resided with her brother. Anna had requested that the first official service be held in Grafton, where the Jarvis family had lived so much of their lives and where her mother had served for so long as a teacher and public servant.” ( Mother’s Day Shrine.org)
Anna Jarvis’ campaign is the reason we have a formal holiday. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared that Mother’s Day should be celebrated as a national holiday on the second Sunday in May.”
Happy Mother’s Day!
“Simply” Sue