Nurturing, Caring and Mother's Day
/Mother's Day – Not Just A Greeting Card
Mother's Day is upon us in all its glory.
Fêted with flowers, cards, and chocolate, this day has become one of the biggest consumer spending days of the year, because naturally, everyone has a mother.
Mother's Day is set aside to acknowledge and honor all our mothers.
Origin Of Mother's Day
As far back as 1870, Julia Ward Howe spearheaded a movement in the United States to have a mother's day celebrating not only motherhood, but peace. She had seen too much of the carnage of the Civil War and she understood deeply that no mother wished for a son to die on a battlefield.
Howe called upon women to come together to make a stand for peace. Her writing showed an expansive, global viewpoint that embraced all of humanity. She was a planetary peacemaker before her time.
Here's an excerpt from her call to all mothers:
“In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions.
The great and general interests of peace.”
Official Holiday In 1914
Mother's Day did not become an official holiday in the United States until 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance. He declared the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. President Wilson proclaimed:
“Let flags be flown on the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”
Anna Jarvis
Anna M. Jarvis
This day focused more on the individual mother.
The founding of the holiday is often credited to Anna M. Jarvis when she held a memorial ceremony in 1908 to honor her mother, and all mothers, at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church.
The church is in Grafton, West Virginia and is recognized as the International Mother's Day Shrine. Designated as a national landmark since 1992, it marks the first official observance of Mother's Day.
“I hope and pray that someone, sometime will found a memorial mothers day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.”
Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church
Defining Mother's Day Today
Many of us have become much broader in our thinking about this holiday. We honor our mothers and yet, it doesn't have to be limited to only a physical mother.
On this day, we take a moment to honor the deeper meaning of mothering that consists of the energies of nurturing and caring.
When these energies take center stage, we recognize that nurturing can exist in many forms, such as caring for animals and plants, and even our planet that we affectionately call Mother Earth.
Caring and nurturing can also mean taking care of a creative project. Our mothering doesn't have to be limited to only our immediate family members. Our caring can reach out into our greater communities on local, national and even global levels.
In this rough and tumble world, it seems only the "tough" are rewarded. Mother's Day gives us a chance to honor a softer, loving energy and acknowledge the healing of nurturing and caring.
