Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May
- Written by Portal Editor
Today it's that time again, Mother's Day 2014 is here. For some, like during the Christmas season, so suddenly, almost surprising. And like every year, the rush to the flower shops began early in the morning.
Rarely do you see flower shops and greenhouses so full of male visitors, who, however, have long since developed their own taste and style to create a wonderful bouquet of flowers. The subsequent visit from the mothers, usually with coffee and cake, perhaps an invitation to dinner, makes all mothers' hearts beat faster.
The most profitable business day right after Christmas
But where does this day come from, which is considered the most profitable business day after Christmas among business people in the USA?
Yes, and how could it be otherwise, that is exactly where the basic idea of Mother's Day comes from, from the English and the American women's movement.
As early as 1865, the American Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis tried to found a mothers' movement called Mothers Friendships Day. On this day, women should be given the opportunity to discuss their questions about daily life with other women at specially organized meetings.
Just five years later, Julia Ward Howe introduced a Mothers' Peace Day initiative under the slogan "peace and motherhood". Julia Ward Howe's main goal was that sons should no longer be sacrificed in wars.
However, the breakthrough of a holiday almost comparable to today's Mother's Day was only established on May 12, 1907 by the Methodist Anna Marie Jarvis.
On the anniversary of the death of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, she organized a "Memorial Mothers Day Meeting in Grafton, which in subsequent years, under her pressure, was dedicated as a special day in the form of a devotion to all mothers.
This day, the second Sunday in May Held at Grafton Church, is widely considered to be the origin of Mother's Day, with Anna Maria Jarvis handing out 500 white carnations to other mothers outside the local church to express her love for her late mother.
Methodist Anna Marie Jarvis establishes Mother's Day
As a result, Anna Maria Jarvis now devoted herself full-time to the goal of creating an official Mother's Day and launched an initiative to create an official holiday honouring mothers by writing letters to politicians, business people, clergy and women's associations.
This movement grew very quickly. As early as 1909, Mother's Day was celebrated in 45 states in the USA. In 1912 the Methodists introduced it to West Virginia. On May 8, 1914, the US Congress passed the Joint Resolution Designating the Second Sunday in May as Mother's Day:
As a sign of love and veneration for mothers, the second Sunday in May should be celebrated as Mother's Day. The President of the United States should have flags hung on public buildings on this day; Woodrow Wilson followed this will of Congress in the same year.
Mother's Day was celebrated as a national holiday for the first time in 1914. However, as Mother's Day became more widespread and commercialized, the founder of the holiday, Anna Maria Jarvis, turned away from the movement, regretted having started it and fought unsuccessfully for the abolition of the holiday.
In Germany, Mother's Day was established in 1922/23 by the Association of German Flower Shop Owners with "Honor the Mother" posters in the shop windows and celebrated - emphatically apolitically - as the day of flower wishes. The way was paved for the first German Mother's Day on May 13, 1923 by the association's chairman, Rudolf Knauer, with posters in shop windows, smaller advertising campaigns and events and even Mother's Day poetry.
From 1926, the propagation of Mother's Day was transferred to the Working Group for Public Health in order to "win over churches and schools and get the government to set Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May as an official holiday".
Today, Mother's Day is not anchored in law; rather, its date is based on agreements between business associations.
The florist associations have designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day, which means that Whit Sunday and Mother's Day fall on the same day if Easter is celebrated no later than March 26th.
Mother's Day is celebrated in the countries listed on the 2nd Sunday in May, which often falls on the same day as Pentecost:
Anguilla, Aruba, Ethiopia, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium (excluding Antwerp region), Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Chile, China, Curaçao, Denmark, Germany, Dominica, Ecuador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland , Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, India, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Austria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea , Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Zambia, Samoa, Switzerland, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania , Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Czech Republic, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Cyprus.
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