Mother’s Day / Father’s Day

Note: Underlined words have definitions at the end of this article provided by The Basic Newbury House Dictionary. Definitions with an asterisk (*) are supplied by the author, Bill Perry.

Mother’s Day is a holiday that celebrates mothers and motherhood. It is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. This holiday was first celebrated in some European countries for years before the idea became popular in America.

Mother’s Day in the US began before the Civil War in 1858. That year Mrs. Anna M. Jarvis began her “Mother’s Day Work Clubs” in West Virginia. These clubs became a movement of women who worked with doctors as they helped with women’s medical needs. Others spread the idea of honoring mothers. Julia Ward Howe first made the suggestion in 1872 of a holiday on June 2nd for mothers. She held a Mother’s Day meeting in Boston for several years. Frank Herring of South Bend, Indiana began a movement to have a Mother’s Day celebrated in 1904.

However, it was Miss Anna Jarvis, the daughter of Mrs. Anna M. Jarvis, who began a campaign in 1907 to make Mother’s Day a national holiday. She chose the second Sunday in May as the date. She also began the custom of wearing a carnation. A colored carnation means the person’s mother is alive. A white carnation means the mother is dead. In 1908 churches in Philadelphia, PA and other cities began celebrating Mother’s Day. Ministers encouraged the celebration with sermons about the importance of mothers. On May 10, 1908, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, MN declared that Anna Jarvis was the founder of Mother’s Day, and that it should be celebrated on the second Sunday in May.

Mother’s Day received national attention when President Woodrow Wilson agreed with Congress on May 9, 1914 that the government observe Mother’s Day. The next year the president declared Mother’s Day a national celebration.

Father’s Day is a result of Mother’s Day. Sonora Dodd listened to a sermon in church about the new Mother’s Day holiday in 1909. Her mother died when Sonora was young, so her father, a farmer and Civil War veteran, raised her and her five siblings by himself. She suggested that the third Sunday in June become the day to honor fathers. She chose this date because her father’s birthday was June 19^th, the third Sunday of that month. The first organizations to support Father’s Day were churches. They were also the first to celebrate Mother’s Day. Ministers on that Sunday spoke about the “manly” side of Christianity and how God acts like a Heavenly Father. But people did not easily accept the idea of Father’s Day. For years it was celebrated only in the churches and in some cities. Efforts to make it a national holiday failed. The Congress would not pass a Father’s Day declaration. They believed it would look selfish, since all members of Congress at that time were men. Both Presidents Wilson and Calvin Coolidge would not approve it.

For its first 25 years Father’s Day was almost a joke to many people. Did fathers really want flowers and greeting cards? No! Then the Associated Men’s Wear Retailers of New York City created the National Council for the Promotion of Father’s Day. This action finally gave Father’s Day national attention. They were smart to do so. Americans spend about $20 million each year on Father’s Day gifts, which are mostly neckties.

Anna Jarvis regretted creating Mother’s Day because it quickly became a moneymaking holiday for many businesses. President Nixon declared Father’s Day a national celebration in 1972. But when Sonora Dodd died in 1978, Father’s Day still was not as popular as Mother’s Day. The difference can be seen in telephone calls. Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for long distance telephone calls. But on Father’s Day more collect calls are made than any other day of the year!

Vocabulary

campaign (noun) – an organized effort by people to reach a goal.

*carnation (noun) – a beautiful flower with many blossoms and a long stem.

*collect call (noun) – a telephone call that is paid by the one who receives the call.

manly (adjective) – having characteristics, such as strength and courage, that are traditionally associated with men.

sibling (noun) – a person with the same parents as someone else, brother or sister.

©Bill Perry. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.