Celebrating Mothers & Motherhood
Submitted by Dede Horan
Mother’s Day falls on the second Sunday of May. Brunches, flowers, cards, and gifts as well as special time spent with family have become central to the holiday. While everyone is aware of this holiday, not many people know when this tradition began.
Looking back to ancient times, the Greeks and Romans held festivals in honor of the mother Goddesses Rhea and Cybele. In the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe there was an early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.” It fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”.
In the 1850s, Ann Reeves Jarvis, a peace activist from West Virginia was a key founder of Mother’s Day work clubs which were held to teach women how to care for their children and to improve sanitary conditions and lower infant mortality. These groups of women also tended to wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War.
After the war, Mother’s Friendship Day picnics and other events were organized as a way to promote peace among former foes. Julia Ward Howe, abolitionist and suffragette was also a key figure in this campaign for world peace. Other pioneers, who supported the idea of a Mother’s Day, were Juliet Calhoun Blakely who inspired a local Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan and Frank Hering along with Mary Towles Sasseen, who worked to organize a Mother’s Day in late 19th and early 20th century.
But it was the efforts of Anna Jarvis, (pictured here) the daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis that resulted in the official Mother’s Day holiday. In 1905 after the death of her mother, Anna thought of a way to honor the sacrifices mothers made for their children. She gained financial backing from Philadelphia department store owner John Wanamaker and on May 10, 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s 
Day celebration at a Methodist church in her home town of Grafton, West Virginia. (Pictured is a postcard showing this church). There were similar events held in Philadelphia and several other cities.
Following the success of this initial celebration, Jarvis who never married nor had children of her own, continued to rally to have this holiday added to the national calendar. Many states, towns and churches adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday. Her efforts were recognized by President Woodrow Wilson and in May 1914, he signed a measure which set aside the second Sunday in May as the official holiday.
Jarvis meant for this day to be one to spend time with your mother and thank and honor her for all she did. Jarvis saw it as a day of personal celebration between mothers and families. This would include the wearing of a white carnation as a badge, visiting one’s mother and attending church services.
It wasn’t long before companies and other merchants began to commercialize Mother’s Day which was upsetting to Jarvis. She began to campaign against the businesses profiting from the Mother’s Day holiday. She threatened lawsuits, organized boycotts and even attacked First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for using Mother’s Day to raise funds for charities. She continued this attempt to reform Mother’s Day until the early 1940s. Jarvis died in 1948 at the age of 84 in Philadelphia’s Marshall Square Sanitarium. She could have profited from Mother’s Day if she had wanted to but instead she died penniless and in a state of dementia.
Vintage postcards were produced to honor this holiday but unlike the major holidays, there are fewer postcards depicting Mother’s Day. However, they can be found at postcard shows among a dealer’s inventory. Here are some examples of cards dating from 1912 – 1920s era.
Red roses are used to say “I love you”, and are symbolic of unconditional love. A bouquet of mature rose blooms sends a message of gratitude. They also stand for courage and respect.
Carnations, the most traditional Mother’s Day flower, come in a variety of colors. The red carnation signifies admiration. Pink represent gratitude and love. White carnations are given or worn in remembrance of a mother who is no longer living.
The example shown here is an invitation to attend a Mother’s Day church service in 1915.
Soldiers often sent messages to their mothers. This example was one issued by the Y.M.C.A. from Camp Cody.
If you’re looking for something different to do this year with your mother, why not bring her to the Denver Postcard and Paper Show to be held on May 6 and 7 at the JEFFCO Fairgrounds located at 15200 West 6th Ave., Golden, CO 80401. Show hours are Friday from 11:00 – 7:00 and Saturday from 9:30 – 4:30. Admission is $5.00 and good for both days. Bring a copy of this article, you’ll receive $1.00 off admission.
If you have any questions about the show or if you have vintage postcards to sell, contact Dede at 303-667-6212.