Mothers Day: A Day to Cherish and Appreciate

Mother’s Day is celebrated worldwide to honour those mothers who sacrifice so much for their children. Mother’s Day is celebrated with love, harmony, and a sense of togetherness like every other occasion.But mainly, it falls in March or May every year. Anna Jarvis is the person who initiated Mother’s Day in the United States. 

In 1905 when her mother passed away, she started the campaign of making Mother’s Day a recognised holiday. The first modern-day Mother’s Day was organised by Anna as a service of worship in the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in West Virginia. This church now holds the International Mother’s Day shrine. 

Anna was a peace activist; she cared for the wounded on both sides of the American Civil War. The entire concept of Mother’s Day introduced by Anna was for people to honour their mother and pay gratitude for all her deeds rather than companies and industries commercialising the whole day. Earlier, it was supposed to be Mother’s Day For Peace, where the mothers could pray that their husbands and sons were no longer killed in the war. 

The proposal to make Mother’s Day an official holiday was rejected by the U.S. Congress in 1908. However, in 1911 owing to the efforts of Jarvis, all US states observed a holiday. Some officially recognise it as a local holiday, the first being West Virginia, Jarvis’s home state, in 1910. Woodrow Wilson signed a declaration stating that Mother’s Day would be held on the second Sunday in May to honour Mother as a national holiday. 

Anna was happy with the founding of Mother’s Day, which is celebrated as a holiday, but she was resentful of the turnover as it got commercialised by some companies. Companies started printing and selling Mother’s Day cards by the early 1920s, turning them into profit-making businesses. Anna felt that companies had misinterpreted her motive of celebrating Mother’s Day and started specific boycott campaigns. For her, Mother’s Day was supposed to be marked with handmade and handwritten greeting cards and cherishing their mother by pampering her rather than buying gifts and already-made cards at shops. She was also cautious of the spelling of Mother’s Day when she established it, as she wanted every family member to honour their mother and not mothers as a whole. 

Many countries used to celebrate Mother’s Day already. They took some inspiration from the U.S. declaration on Mother’s Day as it got associated with carnations (a type of flower), so people started giving carnations to mothers on Mother’s Day. The dates and months vary in countries for this day's celebration. In some places, it is said to be offensive not to wish their mother and honour them on Mother’s Day; however, it is a less-known festival in other places. 

In terms of religion, Christianity is associated strongly with Mother’s Day and Virgin Mary. Mary was a first-century Jewish who married Joseph and gave birth to Jesus. In Islam, there is no concept of Mother’s Day. However, the Quran teaches children to love and respect their mothers on a priority basis over their fathers. In Hindus, Matatirtha Aunsi is called Mother’s Day. It is a festival that is a day-long in Nepal. According to Hindu tradition, this festival falls in the month of Baisakh at the time of the new moon according to the lunar calendar. On this day, mothers are honoured with particular foods. People visit a Matatirtha pond on this day; some take a holy bath in the pond and offer a tarpan that helps the mother reach salvation and bring prosperity to the family. Also, legend says people can see their mother’s face in the pond. 

In India, every year, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. It is not marked as a religious event by Indians though Mother’s Day is highly commercialised. Merchandise of all sorts is available in markets before Mother’s Day arrives. There are greeting cards, customised mugs, keychains, soft toys, photo frames, and more. 

Children buy gifts online and offline for their mothers, people go to restaurants, cut cakes to celebrate the occasion, go for an outing, etc. Many brands run sales, give coupons, and offer their products on Mother’s Day. It has become a pretty materialistic soiree rather than emotional and sentimental. 

The sale of carnations is quite a lot related to this day. In China, Mother’s Day is gradually gaining popularity. In the Chinese Government’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, an article explained that although the origin of this day is in the United States, the people in China accept it without hesitation. 

Mother’s Day greetings should be heartfelt and not for the namesake. When she established this holiday, Anna Jarvis expected that mothers would be recognised for their work, labour, sacrifices and more rather than just showering gifts and forgotten the next day while put to work. This Mother’s Day, realise her sweat and pain while you talk to your mother and ask her about her day.