Here’s a little bonbon for Mother’s day (sent out the day before): Ruth Rosen reminds us of a bit of missing history — of what was really being celebrated before that apostrophe was moved from one side of the “s” in Mothers’ to the other, and the activist origins of the holiday were swept down the memory hole of history by card companies, florists, and candy companies. Tom
Mothers doing what?
By Ruth Rosen
The San Francisco Chronicle
May 8, 2003This Sunday is Mother’s Day. Restaurants are already booked for brunches and dinners. The flower, candy and card industries await their annual spike in sales.
This is soooo 20th century. The women who conceived Mother’s Day would be bewildered by our rituals. They would expect us to be marching in the streets, not honored for our individual sacrifices.
That’s because the idea of a mother’s day began with women’s public activism. In 1858, Anna Reeve Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker, organized Mothers’ (not Mother’s) Work Days in West Virginia to improve the sanitation and decrease the deaths caused by polluted water.
In 1872, Julia Ward Howe, author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” proposed an annual Mothers’ Day for Peace.
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. Restaurants are already booked for brunches and dinners. The flower, candy and card industries await their annual spike in sales.
This is soooo 20th century. The women who conceived Mother’s Day would be bewildered by our rituals. They would expect us to be marching in the streets, not honored for our individual sacrifices.
That’s because the idea of a mother’s day began with women’s public activism. In 1858, Anna Reeve Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker, organized Mothers’ (not Mother’s) Work Days in West Virginia to improve the sanitation and decrease the deaths caused by polluted water.
In 1872, Julia Ward Howe, author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” proposed an annual Mothers’ Day for Peace.