Mother's Day: A Brief History

Mother's Day is a great day to honor the woman who brought you into the world. It is a good time to celebrate everything great about moms. While most people celebrate this holiday, few people know the history behind it.

Mother's Day is thought to have begun in ancient Greece. Known as "mother worship", this festival to Cybele, a goddess who represented the fertility of earth, was held during the Vernal Equinox in Anatolia. Gifts were not given during this festival like they are doing our modern Mother's Day.

The holiday we know today was first established in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe in Boston, Massachusetts. Howe made her Mother's Day Proclamation in hopes to inspire women pacifism. The early celebration of the holiday was pushed forward by women's peace groups and those mother's who had lost sons in the Civil War. Less than seven years after her proclamation, Albion, Michigan became the first city to observe the holiday. This observance began the tradition of celebrating Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. It took many years before it was officially recognized. Several groups and individuals had campaigns to spread the world about Mother's Day. The federal government finally got the message and on May 14, 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed an official proclamation to make Mother's Day a national holiday.