The History of Mother's Day

Where does Mother’s Day come from? The ancient origins…

Evidence is found in ancient times

In Ancient Greece, Rhea, the mother of gods, was honored during spring. Cybele was the first celebrated mother, initially in Phoenicia and then throughout the Roman Empire. The celebrations took place in mid-March and would last 13 days.
Five thousand years B.C., the Romans celebrated the “Matraliae” (from the Latin” Mater” meaning “mother”). This celebration was in honor of Mater Matuta, the goddess of dawn and childbirth and was observed on June 11; this is when the summer solstice is near and the days are at their longest. Religion gradually abolished this pagan ritual.

In the 15th century, it is the English that first celebrated some sort of fundamental Mother’s Day which was then called “Mothering Sunday”. On this occasion, the servants who worked for families would be allowed to go home to visit their mothers.

In France

In France, Napoleon had the idea of creating an official Mother’s Day that would be celebrated during spring. In 1897, the National Alliance decided to implement an official “Family Day” to promote the importance of family and fecundity.

It is only in 1918 in Lyon, precisely on June 18, that the first Mother’s Day occurred. Colonel de la Croix-Laval was the man responsible for this initiative

On May 25, 1941, Maréchal Pétain permanently establishes “National Mother’s Day”.

In 1950, the date for Mother’s Day is officially set to be on the last Sunday in May. If the date coincides with Pentecost, Mother’s Day is then moved to the first Sunday in June.

In North America

In North America, in 1872, Julia Ward Howe, a famous American writer and author of the poem “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, who had been greatly disturbed by the carnage of the Civil War in the United States, suggested that Mother’s Day become a national day of peace.

Her idea was rehashed by active feminist Anna Jarvis. At the time of her death in 1905, her daughter, who bore the same name and wanted to commemorate her mother, started a crusade throughout several American states. She convinced religious authorities to make the second Sunday in May the official date for Mother’s Day. The red carnation was Anna Jarvis’ mother’s favorite flower and this is why it became the symbol for Mother’s Day following the first few celebrations.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, declared Mother’s Day to be a national holiday; Canada and Mexico followed suit.

In 1917, during the First World War, U.S., soldiers propagated the “American” Mother’s Day in Europe.

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