In the U.S., Mother's Day is a holiday celebrated1 on the second Sunday in May. It is a day when children honor their mothers with cards, gifts, and flowers. It was first observed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1907.
Long before that, there were days honoring mothers even in ancient Greece. In those days, however, it was Rhea, the mother of the gods who was given honor.
Later, in the 1600s, in England there was an annual observance called "Mothering Sunday". It was celebrated during June, on the fourth Sunday. On Mothering Sunday, the servants, who generally lived with their employers, were encouraged to return home and honor their mothers. It was traditional for them to bring a special cake along to celebrate the occasion.
In the U.S., in 1907, Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Jarvis
persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia, to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, which was the second Sunday in May. The next year Mother's Day was again celebrated in Philadelphia. Jarvis and others began a letter-writing campaign to ministers, businessmen, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother s Day. They were successful. In 1914, the American President president proclaimed Mother s Day a national observance that was to be held each year on the second Sunday of May.
