Mother’s Day is mobile (like Father’s Day) and in Kenya it is always celebrated on the second Sunday of May. This year, “Mother’s Day”, as it is otherwise called, falls on May 9.
And it may be a global celebration day, but behind its introduction lies a melancholy story.
It started as a day of remembrance and mourning
In the 1850s, West Virginia women led by Ann Reeves Jarvis organized a “Mother’s Day” movement with the sole purpose of improving hygiene and reducing child mortality, according to historian Katharine. Antolini.
But it was not limited to this, as it still cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. And so it began as the day of remembrance and mourning for women who had lost their children in the war, recalling that the struggle until peace is long. But even after the war, in the years that followed, Ann Reeves Jarvis, along with other women, organized picnics and various events, which they called “Mother’s Friendship Day”, in an effort to unite peacefully. former enemies.
Julia Ward Howe, who became known as the composer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, issued a proclamation in 1870 entitled “Declaration of Mother’s Day” calling on women to take an active political role in promoting of peace.
In this environment of volunteerism, but also of the important struggle that women made, Anna Jarvis grew up, who is considered the “responsible” for Mother’s Day.
The day you celebrated the best mother you have ever known In 1905 Anna Jarvis lost her mother. Her loss cost her, but the loss of her mother, who has always been an inspiration to her, inspired her to create her first Mother’s Day party in 1908. And when she came up with the idea, she certainly did not. in her mind, the consumer dimensions she would take, just a few years later, a day whose sole purpose was to celebrate the children with their own mother and to thank her for what she has offered them.
Because Jarvis’ original conception was for this purpose. And for this purpose she fought and later was disappointed, when she saw that her vision as a child, took another form.
She herself had no children. But he had a mother he loved and admired. And when he lost her, he wanted to honor her memory, but also to offer the other children who had their own mothers alive, to spend a day together, in a festive atmosphere. “For Jarvis, it was a day when children spent time at home with their own mother and thanked her for what she had offered them,” says Antolini in her dissertation entitled “Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Defense of Her Mother’s Day “, according to a National Geographic article.
On May 10, 1908, families took part in events in Jarvis’ hometown of Grafton in West Virginia, as well as in Philadelphia – where Jarvis lived at the time – and in other cities. Thanks to her efforts, Mother’s Day began to be celebrated in more and more US cities and states, until President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 designated the second Sunday in May as official Mother’s Day.
A Day that turned into a celebration of consumerism One might believe that the commercialization of “Mother’s Day” is a sign of our times, but this had been done since the very first years of its establishment.
Anna Jarvis’s idea of celebrating each mother separately soon turned into a goldmine for traders, annoying her unimaginably. In fact, she was so irritated that she now devoted herself to a new purpose: to bring Mother’s Day back to its original roots. Only “this fight was hard, difficult and in the end cost her all her property.
Anna Jarvis boycotted and threatened to sue, even attacking the First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt, accusing her of using Mother’s Day to raise funds for charity. He even invaded a confectioners’ conference in Philadelphia in 1923 to protest the commercialization of a celebration that always carried the melancholy history of manades that their children had lost in the war.
The inspirer of “Mother’s Day” never bent and fought valiantly for the return to its original meaning, until the early 40’s.
She gave up her struggle because she was immersed in the oblivion of dementia. In 1948, Anna Jarvis died at the age of 84 in Philadelphia’s Marshall Square. Poor. They say that if he wanted, he could have earned a lot of money from “Mother’s Day”.
But for her it was always a day of remembrance and honor to the most important person for everyone. For the most special mother we have ever met separately. That’s why, after all, she insisted on the singular number “Mother’s Day” and not on the plural “Mothers’ Day”. “Mother’s Day” in numbers
After Valentine’s Day, “Mother’s Day” is considered the most commercial day.
 and in Kenya it is always celebrated on the second Sunday of May. This year, "Mother's Day", as it is otherwise called, falls on May 9.){kind=link}