Historical Meaning of Mother's Day

Pagan, Christian and commercial significance of an ancient holiday

May 10, 2006 Katrien Vander Straeten

Mother's Day: from pagan worship of Mother Earth, Christian devotion of the Virgin Mary and "Mother Church", celebration of our earthly mothers, to commercial holiday.

Mother's Day as we know it in North America originated in the United States in 1907, but a Mother's Day has been celebrated by different cultures, from Ancient Greece to Rome, to America, for millennia.

Rhea, Gaia, Cybele

From the 6th century B.C. onwards the Ancient Greeks honored Rhea or Rheia as the Magna Mater, the great mother of everything, including the gods. She was the wife of Chronos and the mother of Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus. Her father was Uranus or the heavens, her mother Gaia or Gaea, or the earth, with whom she was often identified. In 205 B.C her cult was introduced in Rome, where she was celebrated as Cybele during the Hilaria on the Ides of March.

Virgin Mary

In Christian times, Mother's Day was a day in honor of the Virgin Mary and the Church. In England, in the 13th century, Henry III of England (1216-1239) introduced "Mothering Sunday": on the Sunday before Easter sons and daughters went back home to visit the church where they were baptized and worshipped as children. This also meant that they returned to their (earthly) mothers, and soon they too were honored with gifts, flowers and special Mothering Day cakes or Simnel cakes.

Julia Ward Howe

In addition to Nature and Church, mothers also inspire peace. In 1870, the American author and suffragette Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) called on all women to protest against the Franco-Prussian war. She tried to get formal recognition for a Mother's Day for Peace. This didn't quite catch on, but it inspired the Virginian Anna Jarvis (1832-1905).

Anna Jarvis: the mother of Mother's Day

Anna Jarvis was a childless spinster who wanted to honor her mother, who had lost 7 of her 11 children but converted her sorrow into charitable works. When her mother died on May 9, 1905, Anna and the leaders of her church in Crafton, West Virginia, decided to hold the first Mother's Day on the 2nd Sunday of May, 1907. Anna went on to relentlessly promote Mother's Day by writing over 10,000 letters to newspapers, business and church leaders and politicians. In 1910 the Governor of Virginia proclaimed it a state holiday, and in 1914 President Wilson made it a national holiday.

Mother's Day shopping

Today, it is the fourth largest shopping holiday in the US, with consumers spending $11.5 billion in 2005. If that amount of chocolates and flowers is any indication, we still love our mothers very much!

The copyright of the article Historical Meaning of Mother's Day in Entertaining is owned by Katrien Vander Straeten. Permission to republish Historical Meaning of Mother's Day in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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May 11, 2008 10:04 AM

Guest :

If you come down to it, we as so called christians are celebrating a pagan originated holiday,which it states in the Bible that we are to not celebrate pagan holidays, so in fact we are going against the word of God, pretty it up all you want .

Feb 24, 2009 9:19 PM

Guest :

The Mother's Day established by President Woodrow Wilson's proclomation has nothing to do with Mothering Sunday. It was established simply as a day to honor mothers (search the internet for Mother's Day proclomation and read it for yourself). First off Mothering Sunday was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent a totally different month. The proclomation is simply a day to honor mothers (no mention of Mary worship, godesses, etc). The 5th of the ten commandments God gave Moses says honor your father and mother (found in Exodus 20). We should honor our mother everyday but there is no problem setting aside a special day of honor just as there is no problem with setting aside a special day to thank our Creator God (at Thanksgiving). Now Easter, Halloween, and Christmas are different. When you look at the origins of those holidays they have nothing to do with Christianity.

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