Brief history of Mother’s Day
By Staff
Michelle Blaylock, Mom’s Corner
Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend. Anybody for a quick history lesson about Mother’s Day? It’s roots actually start with the ancient Greeks and their spring festival for the goddess Rhea.
The Romans had a similar festival for their Goddess Cybele.
However, the modern day concept of Mother’s Day began with a lady named Anna Jarvis about 150 years ago. Anna wanted to bring attention to the deplorable living conditions in her Appalachian community and she thought Mothers would be the best advocates.
After Anna Jarvis died in 1905, her daughter took up her fight for a national mothers day and in 1908 her church was the first to celebrate a Mother’s day. She handed out her Mother’s favorite flower, a white carnation. Finally in 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s Day as a national holiday.
I recently attended a “You and Your Girl” Christian conference in Birmingham with my 12-year-old daughter along with some other
mothers and daughters from our church.
The conference was wonderful. There were two speakers, Vickie Courtney and Jackie Kendall. They were down to earth with practical advice for how to guide our young ladies into adulthood.
One thing that Vickie stressed was that mothers aren’t supposed to be their daughter’s friends. It made me think back to a time when my oldest was about 14 years old. She wanted to do something and I said, “no.” She became very angry with me and said the dreaded words, “I hate you!” My response was, “good!” My daughter looked at me as if I had lost my mind. I went on to say, “I’m your mother not your friend. I’ll be your friend when you’re 30! Right now you don’t have to love me, you just have to obey me and maybe someday you’ll understand. Nevertheless, I still love you.” My daughter didn’t hardly talk to me other than to say, “You’re just weird “ for almost two days. Oh well, this definitely isn’t the Brady Bunch!
There was so much information covered in the seminar I can’t possibly begin to go into the whole thing. If you get an opportunity to attend one, please do. It will really bless you and your daughter.
As this Mother’s Day approaches take a little bit time to reflect on motherhood. We all have room for improvement. Also, take a bit of time for a nice walk or a quiet bubble bath to rejuvenate yourself. You can’t give to your kids if there’s nothing left in you to give. We need to refill our own reservoirs and Mother’s Day is a great day to do it.
And when all else fails (like your kids accidentally leave a gallon of chocolate milk in your van when it’s 97 degrees outside and the milk explodes) just start repeating to yourself “Children are a gift from God. Children are a gift from God. Children are a gift from God. Children…”
If you have a question or comment please e-mail it to: moms-corner@juno.com
