ATLANTA — It’s time to celebrate the person who brought you into this world.
The holiday was started by daughters
Suffragist and writer Julia Ward Howe first suggested the idea of Mother’s Day in the United States in 1872. Howe was a pacifist and saw the holiday as a chance to unite women and rally for peace. For several years, she held an annual Mother’s Day meeting in Boston.
West Virginia activist Anna Jarvis is credited with creating the holiday that is celebrated today.
In 1908, Jarvis campaigned for a national observance of the holiday in honor of her mother, who was a community health advocate. Her mom had organized several Mother’s Day Work Clubs that addressed child rearing and public health issues, and Jarvis wanted to commemorate her and the work of all mothers.
However, Jarvis later became disillusioned by how floral and greeting card companies commercialized the holiday and said she regretted starting it.
It became an official US holiday in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a day of “public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”
It’s a day moms get pampered
When the holiday first caught on, people celebrated by attending church and writing appreciative letters to their mothers.
Later, sending cards and giving presents and flowers were incorporated into the tradition.
This year, Mother’s Day spending is estimated to total $25 billion, the National Retail Federation said. People are expected to spend an average of $196 to celebrate their moms.
The pampering is probably well-deserved. Insure.com’s Mother’s Day Index, which assigns an annual salary to the work that moms do at home, was valued at $71,297 in 2019.
Moms can be the backbone of the household, cooking, fixing up the house and shopping for the family.
So on Sunday, it’s mom’s turn to be taken care of.