History of Mother's Day & Its Gifts

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 10 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #4,937 in Family, #141,354 overall

Mother's Day Gifts past and future

As a child holidays always appeared to be magical providing us with a reason to celebrate. Throughout one's life holidays have represented a day off from school or work. Sometimes holidays revolve around giving special presents to loved ones. Generally the presents were reminiscent of the holiday being celebrated. Mother's day gifts tend to be oriented around flowers and gift items bearing floral designs.

The flower tradition may have started back when the Ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated their female goddesses during spring festivals. Another theory about Mother's Day floral gifts may have begun in the early 1900's when Anna Jarvis held a ceremony in honor of her mother who became deceased two years earlier. Perhaps the exact history of Mother's Day and floral gifts may remain a mystery forever. No matter how this holiday began it now represents a day for celebrating love, life and the special magical devotion of a mother to her child.

This site hopes to share both the history of Mother's Day and some great gift ideas. I hope you enjoy your visit and please come back again.

Mother's Day History 

Works cited by: "Who came up with Mother's Day and why?." 11 May 2001. HowStuffWorks.com. /www.howstuffworks.com/question634.htm> 14 April 2009.

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Mother's Day is celebrated in many countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan and Belgium. The day is used by children and husbands to honor mothers and grandmothers for all that they do in raising children.

Some historians claim that Mother's Day originates from ancient spring festivals dedicated to maternal goddesses. Greeks honored Rhea, wife of Cronus and mother of the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. Ancient Romans had a spring festival dedicated to Cybele, also a mother goddess. Called Hilaria, this celebration lasted for three days and included parades, games and masquerades.

A more modern version of Mother's Day began in the 1600s in England. Mothering Sunday was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent. Small gifts were given, and a special dessert called a simnel cake was served.

In the United States, Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (famous for writing the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic"). But it was a woman who was never a mother herself who led the campaign for national recognition of Mother's Day.

Anna Jarvis held a ceremony in 1907 in Grafton, West Virginia, to honor her mother, who had died two years earlier. Jarvis' mother had tried to establish Mother's Friendship Days as a way of dealing with the aftermath of the Civil War. Anna Jarvis began a campaign to create a national holiday honoring mothers. She and her supporters wrote to ministers, businessmen and politicians, and they were successful in their efforts.

In 1910, West Virginia became the first state to recognize the new holiday, and the nation followed in 1914 when President Wilson declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day. Jarvis used white carnations as a symbol for mothers, because carnations represented sweetness, purity and the endurance of mother love. (Today, white carnations represent a mother who has died, while red carnations represent a living mother.)

Unfortunately, Jarvis became bitter over the commercialization of the holiday. She filed a lawsuit to stop a 1923 Mother's Day event and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a mother's convention where white carnations were being sold. Jarvis never married and never had children. She died in 1948.

Mother's Day continues to be a very commercial holiday in the United States. Flowers, candy and cards are typical gifts, and phone traffic is especially high on the second Sunday in May.

Mother's Day Gift Ideas 

Google Gifts for Mom!

When you are having trouble finding that special gift don't give up. Try a search engine like google to find some fresh unique ideas!
DIK (Desert Island Keepers): Author Kendra Leigh Castle - Day 2!
Very cool, but grounded at least a little in history. Then came this amazing book in which the heroine was a kick-ass futuristic Earthling and the hero was the ruler of a bunch of sexy alien barbarians. Once I'd read it, I wanted MORE. The next book, Keeper of the Heart, ... 5/12 (Mother's Day) Renee you're up on 5/13 thru. 5/15. Kati you're up on 5/17 thru. 5/19. Katiebabs you're up on 5/20 thru. 5/22. Thea you're up on 5/24 thru. 5/26. Sula you're up on 5/27 thru. 5/29 ...
Think again about keeping little ones so squeaky clean | Science Codex
"In other words, inflammatory networks may need the same type of microbial exposures early in life that have been part of the human environment for all of our evolutionary history to function optimally in adulthood," said McDade, also a member of ... The Northwestern study drew its data from a longitudinal study that began in the early 1980s with 3327 Filipino mothers in the third trimester of pregnancy. The mothers were interviewed for behaviors related to care giving, ...
books4yourkids.com: The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel ...
Frederick works these aspects of life in Concord into her story seamlessly and completely, her characters even commenting at times on what it feels like to live with the physical remnants of history all around them. Frederick brings together a diverse group of girls and .... As Mr Hawthorne says, after he and Darcy are fitted out in their minutemen costumes, this is the Patriot's Day is the father-son version of the mother-daughter book club. Posted by Tanya at 1:46 AM ...
Powered by Google

Some Free Gift Ideas 

Mothers Day Central Blog

If your limited on funds for gifts then check these blogs out. This is where easy make it yourself gifts can be found.

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

Favorite Mother's Day Gifts 

Mother's Day Gift Suggestions

What are some of your favorite Mother's Day Gifts to give or receive?

submit
Show All

Special Mother's Day Gift Ideas 

Unique Sentimental Gifts

This is the place to find unique gift ideas from the heart.

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

by IArtist

"I am just a creative soul who is following an artistic path."

"An Artists Dream"

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a childhood dream come true?... (more)

Explore related pages

Mother's Day Flower Gifts
Mother's Day is a holiday that - like any other holiday - comes once a year...
Marriage & Love
Are you married?  Are you happy?  Are you looking to improve your marr...
Beautiful Coffee Mugs
I love my cup of coffee in the morning :) Love the taste and the smell. But it n...
Mother's Day Greeting Cards
There are usually a hundred or two hundred cards to choose from at your local st...
Flower And Nature Photographs, Cards, And Gifts
Hi and welcome! My name is Susan and I am an amateur photographer who loves to t...
The Girlfriend Factory
Did you click on this lens because you thought you could order yourself a girlfr...

Related Topics

IArtist Recommends...

Create a Lens!