The Advent Of Mother’s Day

The Birth of Mother’s Day

The modern Mothers Day in America was invented by Ms Anna Jarvis. Anna wanted a personal way to honor moms within the family. She sought to honor mothers everywhere on that day. It spread fast across the Northeastern states and then the Midwest and eventually across the rest of the country due to its immediate success. Companies jumped on board quickly for mother’s day gifts. Anna also trademarked the terms “Mother’s Day” and “Second Sunday of May” back then, which was incredible foresight. A bill signed by President Woodrow Wilson specifically had “Mother’s Day” with the singular apostrophe.

Anna Jarvis felt here original vision for Mother’s Day was eroded by companies looking to make money off of it and she eventually opposed the holiday. This did not halt popularity of Mother’s Day and the history of Mother’s Day has become the stuff of legends. Far from it, this original American holiday soon spread around the world and now the second Sunday of May has been adopted by 79 other countries as Mothers Day.

Mothers Day in Ancient Times

Although the modern Mother’s Day started in a quiet small state in the United States, the tradition of a day for mothers dates back to ancient Greece and China as early as 700 BC. Mothers day is the same day as the Spring Equinox in places such as Greece. The Tang Dynasty at the height of the Chinese empire had a special holiday dedicated to mothers.

The vernal equinox mothers day was adopted by the conquering Romans 500 years later. The Roman holiday however, lasted for several days from March 15th to March 18th. The Roman Empire also had the Matronalia holiday where sons and daughters gave a gift to their mothers.

China’s Mothers Day was the most widely adopted in Asia due to its cultural influence. In Western Europe, a specific Sunday was designeated as “Mothering Sunday”.

Mother’s Day Today

Mother’s Day has spread around the world and is honored in different regions on different days. Mothers Day gift ideas grew exponentially to include flowers, chocolates, jewelry, designer bags and chocolates all complemented with a card. Personalized jewelry has been quickly ascended in popularity. For more in depth information we recommend Mothers Day Gift Central as the most comprehensive resource for Mother’s Day as well as Mother’s Day gift ideas. The Second Sunday of May has been adopted as Mother’s Day is now by far the most popular date and has been adoped by over 550 million people. The second most used date remains the Spring Equinox which is also known as the Vernal Equinox or the Ides of March.