The History of Mother's Day

Believe it or not, Mother’s Day has been around for centuries. The ancient Greeks celebrated Rhea, mother of the gods, while the ancient Romans honored their mother goddess, Cybele. The Romans were quite a randy bunch and it is well known that the Cybele revelers were banished from Rome! Nothing like getting crazy on Mother’s Day, huh? In Britain, the goddess Brigid was honored with a spring celebration
each year, in concurrence with the first milk of the ewes.

The origins of the more modern Mother’s Day come from Britain when in the 17th century, they celebrated “Mothering Sunday.” This holiday was celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was set aside for apprentices and laborers to have a day to go home and visit their mothers. They would bring along a fruitcake type delicacy called simnels and would dine on furmenty, which was a sweet boiled cereal dish. Nothing like cereal and fruitcake to celebrate good old Mom, eh? By the 19th century, Mothering Sunday was just another day in the life of the British population.
Anna Reeves Jarvis established “Mothers’ Work Days” in the mid-1800s to work for better sanitary conditions during the Civil War. She continued the practice after the war to help establish reconciliation between the two sides.

Julia Ward Howe, the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, also worked towards establishing a “Mother’s Day for Peace” in the late 1800s. This day was set aside for honoring mothers, women and peace. In 1873, 18 cities held a “Mother’s Day for Peace” gathering. Once Howe stopped financially supporting the holiday, it quickly died off and we were left without a Mother’s Day once again.

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