Who invented Mother´s Day?

May, Mother´s Day. Was it a super mother Who invented this day?
Not really. It was a super daughter who never had children of her own. Anna Jarvis, a north-american woman, following her death of her mother – a well-known activist of her time – began an intensive campaign in 1907 to establish Mother´s Day as a national holiday. She succeeded in getting the small town of Grafton, Philadelphia, celebrating this day on the second anniversary of her mother´s – Anna Reese Jarvis – death. It was an immediate success and the date has spread all around the estate, with Anna leading the movement to make the day be observed nationally and later, internationally. In 1911, the date was celebrated in most States of America. But the good daughter was not satisfied until she got, three years later, President Woodrow Wilson edit an official communication making the second Sunday of May a national holiday.

From then on, the whole world started to join in, each country selecting a date in the calendar. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Japan and Turkey followed the United States.
The first Mother´s Day in Brazil was promoted by Porto Alegre YMCA on May 12, 1918. And it was in 1932 that President Getulio Vargas officialized the date as the second Sunday of May.

In France? It is the last Sunday in May. In South Africa it is the first Sunday of that month. In Argentina? Well, our neighbors, just to be different, decided for the second Sunday in October. Spain and Portugal, both Catholic countries, have chosen December 8, the same day devoted to Virgin Mary. In Israel, Mom´s Day was replaced by the Family`s Day, in February, however people seriously dedicated to religion celebrate the date of Rachel`s death as a symbol. In Lebanon, there is a romantic touch: the date is celebrated on the first day of Spring. There are records of even more ancient celebrations – in Greece, Rome and England.

It didn´t take long for the date to become a commercial event. So that, Anna, disappointed with the direction the national holiday had taken, began a new movement in 1923, against the commercial emphasis given to the date. As we can see, all in vain.

By Sonia Racy