| 14 may 2004
Mother's Day
by Nanci Olesen
The origins of Mother's Day are not with
breakfast in bed or a corsage or a greeting
card. Mother’s Day began as a political
cry for peace.
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe, mother of six,
wrote “The Mother’s Day Proclamation
for Peace.”
Howe had recently walked the battlefields
of the Civil War with her husband and with
Abraham Lincoln. She had just written “The
Battle Hymn of the Republic”. But
now, as the Franco Prussian War was beginning,
she felt that she could not bear any more
violence. She called for a congress of women
to gather immediately to promote PEACE:
A Mother’s Day for Peace.
Julia Ward Howe held a standing-room-only
meeting in Boston the day that she read
her proclamation.
About that same time, there was Anna Jarvis,
who organized “A Mother’s Friendship
Day” in which mothers from both North
and South whose sons had died in the Civil
War gathered, dressed in gray or blue, to
hold hands together and sing.
Anna Jarvis’s daughter—who
shared her name—began what is now
thought of as the first U.S. Mother’s
Day on May 10, 1908. It was a church service
dedicated to mothers, recognizing their
unappreciated work, and calling for peace
in the home and in the world. Andrews Methodist
Church, in Grafton, West Virginia, is considered
the Mother Church of Mother’s Day.
The next year Mother’s Day was celebrated
in 45 states.
On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson
officially named the second Sunday in May
“Mother’s Day.” His declaration
included flowery language about the important
role mothers play in the home and in society.
But Wilson said nothing about a mother’s
role in promoting peace in the world.
I’m the mom of three kids, ages 9,
10, and 13. I’ll get the flowers and
the cards. I’m even hoping for a nice
brunch. I love being appreciated for being
a mom. I always let my own mom know how
much I love her on the big day. And who
doesn’t love a bouquet of flowers
in May? But there’s so much more at
stake. Listen to Julia Ward Howe’s
proclamation:
“Arise, then, women of this day!
“Arise all women who have hearts! Whether
your baptism be that of water orof tears!
“Say firmly:
We will not have questions decided by irrelevant
agencies,
Our husbands shall not come to us reeking
with carnage,
for caresses and applause.
“Our sons shall not be taken from us to
unlearn all that we have been able to
teach
them of charity, mercy and patience.
“We women of one country will be too
tender of those of another country to
allow our
sons to be trained to injure theirs.
“From the bosom of the devastated earth
a voice goes up with our own.
“It says,‘Disarm, Disarm!’
“The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice! Blood does not wipe out dishonor
nor violence indicate possession.
“As men have often forsaken the plow and
the anvil at the summons of war, let women
now leave all that may be left of home
for a great and earnest day of counsel.
“Let them meet first, as women, to bewail
and commemorate the dead.
“Let them then solemnly take counsel with
each other as to the means whereby the
great
human family can live in peace, each bearing
after their own time the sacred impress,
not of Caesar, but of God—
“In the name of womanhood and of humanity,
I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit
of nationality may be appointed and held
at some place deemed most convenient and
at the earliest period consistent with its
objects, to promote the alliance of the
different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and
general interests of peace—”
—Julia Ward Howe / Writer, Lecturer,
Reformer / Boston 1870
Happy Mother’s Day.
—Nanci Olesen
producer and host, MOMbo: 1990-2007 |
