The second Sunday of May
Mother's Day: The Real Story
Born in a Methodist church in West Virginia.
Where it really comes from
The first official Mother's Day service was held on May 10, 1908, at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Anna Jarvis organized it in memory of her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, a Sunday school teacher who had organized mothers to care for sick families and wounded soldiers. Years earlier, Ann had closed a Sunday school lesson with a prayer that someday someone would found a day to honor mothers. Her daughter did. President Woodrow Wilson made it national in 1914.
What people say vs. what history shows
Myth: “Card companies invented Mother's Day.”
Solid: nearly all historians agree.
It started as a church service. In fact, Anna Jarvis spent the rest of her life fighting the companies that commercialized it.
The customs, honestly
- White carnations (Christian origin): Anna Jarvis handed out white carnations, her mother's favorite flower, at the first service.
- Cards and brunch (Folk custom): Later commercial customs, the very thing Anna Jarvis opposed.
The Jesus connection
"Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12). Even on the cross, in agony, Jesus made sure his mother would be cared for (John 19:26-27).
For kids
Mother's Day started in a church, with a daughter who wanted to thank God for her mom. It's a day to say thank you to the moms and grandmas who love you!
Talk about it
What's one way your mom, or someone like a mom to you, has shown you God's love?
Read it in the Bible
Sources
- International Mother's Day Shrine (Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church), Grafton, West Virginia
- Katharine Lane Antolini, Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother's Day (2014)