Oh, mother. She birthed you, changed you, fed you, held you, and fixed your boo-boos. She made you cookies, or she taught you how to cut the cookies from the pre-made cookie dough, and sometimes she just let you eat the cookie dough. She took you to school, or she taught you herself from home. She helped you with your homework. She made your clothes, or she took you to the store for the coolest fashions, or she didn’t because she had no taste in fashion, but you forgave her (20 years later). She cheered you on at games. She drove you to the dances, and picked you up too early. She told the best jokes, or she told the worst jokes. She never slept so she could spend time with you, she worked when you slept, or she came home late from working, but always made sure to kiss you good night before she had to go to bed. She knew the best way to take care of you when you were sick. She created comfort food. She was your best friend. Every mom is different, and every upbringing is different, but we all have mom’s, whether she is here with you today or in your heart. Today we pay homage to the day of saying, “thank you”, and celebrating the woman (biological, adoptive, step-parent or guardian) who was, and is your mom.

Cinnamon and (baby) Seasons the mother daughter team behind Presents of Mind

Mother’s Day 101…

Procession in Honor of Isis by Frederick Arthur Bridgman. Credit wikimedia

The celebration of the mother goes back as far as ancient Egypt, and most likely earlier. If the Earth or all that is giving of new life is the “mother” than you can imagine that humans have been celebrating and honoring the mother since the dawn of our existence. Granted, the mothers that humans were honoring were not your run of the mill mamas, they were honoring Goddesses and deities. Yes, we know some of us grew up with mom’s that pretty much believed they were a Goddess, but that’s not what the Egyptians were thinking when they were honoring Isis, the mother of the Pharaohs. The Greeks honored Rhea, and the Roman’s took Rhea and renamed her Cybele, but these celebrations have little to do with how and what we celebrate today.

In the 1600′s England declared Mothering Day. This day was to be observed during Lenten (Laetare) Sunday. It was mainly focused towards the lives of the working classes. On this day servants, and trades people, and those who had to work far from home, could return to their homes and spend the day with their families (although it was meant for everyone, those who had to work often had only this time to see their mothers). The mother was the guest of honor and she was given cakes and flowers.

Mothering Day did not cross over on the Mayflower nor did it journey on any vessel that traversed the Atlantic to the New Americas. It wasn’t till 1870 that Julia Ward Howe called for a day of mothers. Julia Ward Howe, was so concerned and appalled by the sheer number of deaths and the violence of the Civil War, that she called on mothers to create a day of peace, and to protest, “son’s killing sons.” It caught on for a bit then quickly died, but her call for peace and the strength of mothers to protect and create peace did not go unheard.

Julia Ward Howe. Credit wikimedia

Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate the day that had been previously set on June 2nd, in attempt to re-unite families who had been torn apart by the Civil war. Anna Reeves Jarvis was an active member of her community who spent her time (in between raising her eleven children) organizing groups to help combat poor health most likely caused by poor sanitation. She created the Mother’s day work clubs where mother’s took a neutral stance on the civil war and nursed wounded soldiers.

Anna Marie Jarvis. Credit Wikimedia

Anna Marie Jarvis, daughter of Anna Reeves Jarvis, admired and loved her mother, and after her death in May of 1905, Anna Marie decided to create a day to honor her mother, and her efforts for peace. She started small at first by approaching the local churches. She later decided that the day should be expanded to all mothers. By 1908, in West Virginia the tradition of bringing white carnations (her mother’s favorite flower) to the church began. In 1910, she had petitioned for the second Sunday in May as Mother’s day, and it was at this time that the State of West Virgina recognized the day. Anna Marie began rigorous petitioning, and eventually in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the holiday into national recognition.

Mother’s day, the second Sunday of May, would be spent in church and then afterwards boys and girls, men and women would sit and write letters to their mothers and bring them a carnation. Soon carnations shops began showing up everywhere. The carnations were in the colors of red and pink for mothers who were living and the white carnation was for mothers who had passed away.

Vase with Carnations by Vincent Van Gogh. Credit wikimedia

By the 1920′s the greeting card companies began creating greeting cards centered on the celebration of mother’s day. This was appalling to Anna Marie Jarvis, who believed that greeting cards were a lazy approach to the letter writing, but the mother’s day greeting card business took off and everyone started buying cards for their mothers. By 1924, Anna was so upset by the greeting card explosion that she began to petition to have the holiday abolished. In 1930 she was arrested for disturbing the peace at a carnation shop, during a mother’s day sale. Sadly, and somewhat oddly, Anna M. Jarvis spent her entire life and her family’s inheritance on trying to abolish the holiday that she had worked so hard to create.

The tradition of giving cards for mother’s day has survived for nearly seventy years along with celebrating the day that Anna M. Jarvis created. We no longer see a mass amount of carnation stands on the street corners, and the day is not often spent in church, in fact families have adopted their own ways of celebrating their mother.

Regardless of how Anna Marie Jarivs had it in her mind, we still to this day celebrate her mother’s day. We celebrate to recognize the women who birthed us and raised us; better yet, we acknowledge not only birth mother’s, but all the women who were and are mothers.

Presents of Mind is a card shop, and we hate the idea of Anna M. Jarvis rolling in her grave at the thought, but if she could know that this store is a mother/daughter store and that we carry so many handmade cards, and gifts from people who are at home or in their tiny studios pouring all of their love into each item.These artists and crafters help us to find something unique and special, made lovingly for our unique and special mothers. Perhaps if she could know how the very craft industry that many of our cards come from help to keep mothers self-employed and created an industry for mothers that allows them to spend more time at home with their kids, maybe she would have a change of heart.

Happy Mother’s day!

If you want to know more about mother’s day, you can check these sources: Mother’s Day History, Story of Anna Jarivs and the History Channel.