.STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH

Duane A. Lienemann,
 UNL Extension Educator,
 Webster County
May 11, 2012 Edition

As I write this column, I have several graduation parties ahead of me to attend. They of course are usually thrown by parents to celebrate the graduation of their sons and/or daughters from their local high school. As a long time teacher, I have attended more graduations and graduation parties that I can even count. One thing I remember from those years that it seemed that graduation in most cases seemed to always fall on Mother’s Day, which in my opinion really wasn’t fair to those mothers and grandmothers. It always seemed to me that it diminished the honor we should afford our mothers and grandmothers and if a man, also his wife. Although, just by the virtue of what makes a mother, I doubt if you ever heard to many of them complain – their children always came first. I remember my mother, who exemplified that very spirit.
I am so glad that, in many cases, school administrators have changed this celebration to the day before, which makes sense to me. While that is a much better placement for the day, my guess is that those mothers with graduates probably would rather just use the day after to rest. That may be the best Mother’s day present that they could receive. You probably have guessed by now that I am going to bring you some information this week on this special day, that I for many years figured was a ploy by Hallmark cards, flower shops, jewelry stores, etc. to benefit from the love or even guilt of sons and husbands. But of course I found out differently. I had never really thought about it before and found that there is some interesting history to be considered. Let’s take a look at the tradition of Mother’s Day in this week’s edition.
Mother's Day of course is a celebration that honors mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. What I didn’t know is that the origins of Mother's Day is centuries old with the dating back to the ancient annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to maternal goddesses. The Greeks used the occasion to honor Rhea, wife of Cronus and the mother of many deities of Greek mythology. Ancient Romans, too, celebrated a spring festival, called “Hilaria”, which was dedicated to Cybele, a mother goddess. It may be noted that these ceremonies began some 250 years before Christ was born, usually on the Ides of March, with temple offerings, parades, games and masquerades.
Dating back to the 1600’s in England we find that Christians celebrated a Mother's Day of sorts during the festival on the fourth Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter) in honor of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. After a prayer service in church, children brought gifts and flowers to pay tribute to their own mothers, so it naturally then expanded to include all mothers and was called “Mothering Sunday”. Many prominent people had servants, nanny’s or even slaves and on this occasion, servants, apprentices and other employees staying away from their homes were encouraged by their employers to visit their mothers and honor them. Traditionally children brought with them gifts and a special fruit cake or fruit-filled pastry called a “simnel”. This practice was brought to the United States by the colonists (long before Hallmark was founded) and continued depending upon the culture and customs of their motherlands.
Interesting enough the custom of celebrating “Mothering Sunday” died out almost completely by the early 19th century. But then in the United States, Mother's Day got its auspicious start nearly 150 years ago when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, a cause she believed would be best advocated by mothers. She called it "Mother's Work Day." It however was not national is scope and didn’t have a great following. Fifteen years later in 1872, Julia Ward Howe, a poet, pacifist, and suffragist who shot to fame with her famous Civil War song, "Battle Hymn of the Republic," organized a day encouraging mothers to rally for peace, since she believed they bore the loss of human life more harshly than anyone else. She wrote a passionate appeal to women and urged them to rise against war and initiated a “Mothers' Peace Day” observance on the second Sunday in. Her idea spread, but was later replaced by the Mothers' Day holiday now celebrated in May. This brought a National stage for the cause.
Unfortunately, with the expansion of the United States westward, and the mass immigration of European people into the expanding United States, it seemed to diminish again in popularity. But then in 1905 when Anna Jarvis (the original founder) died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life work of her mother. Legend has it that young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother's day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers.” Anna began to lobby politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a special day to honor mothers. She handed out her mother's favorite flower, the white carnation. The House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother's Day. In 1914 Anna's hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother's Day as a National holiday, almost 100 years ago.
At first, people observed Mother's Day by attending church and writing letters to their mothers which even became more prevalent during and right after World War II, for obvious reasons. It has since evolved into the more commercial Mother’s Day we know today, with the giving of cards, presents, flowers and perhaps a dinner for the family at the local restaurant – to give mom a break. I honor my mother who raised 10 children with limited resources. She was made out of the stuff that made our country what it is. Our mothers and grandmothers are the backbone of America – I salute them!

The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: www.webster.unl.edu/home