Some historians claim that the predecessor of the Mother's Day holiday was the ancient spring festival dedicated to mother goddesses.  In the ancient Greek empire the spring festival honored Rhea, wife of Cronus and mother of the gods and goddesses.   In Rome the most significant Mother's Day-like festival was dedicated to the worship of Cybele, another mother goddess.  Ceremonies in her honor began some 250 years before Christ was born.  This Roman religious celebration, known as Hilaria, lasted for three days - from March 15 to 18.

More like the modern celebration of Mother's Day is England's "Mothering Sunday", also called Mid-Lent Sunday, is observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent.   Some say the ceremonies in honor of Cybele were adopted by the early church to venerate the Mother of Christ, Mary.  Others believe the Mother Church was substituted for mother goddess and custom began to dictate that a person visit the church of his/her baptism on this day.  People attended the mother church of their parish, laden with offerings.  In England in the 1600's, young men and women who were apprentices or servants returned home on Mothering Sunday, bringing to their mothers small gifts like trinkets or a "mothering cake".

Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948) is credited with originating our Mother's Day (USA) holiday.   She never married and was extremely attached to her mother, Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis.   Mrs. Jarvis was a minister's daughter who for twenty years taught Sunday School in the Andrews Methodist Church of Grafton, West Virginia.  Miss Jarvis graduated from the Female Seminary in Wheeling, West Virginia, and taught in Grafton before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the rest of her family.  Anna Reese Jarvis died in Philadelphia in May of 1905.  Still unmarried and left alone with her blind sister Elsinore, Anna missed her mother greatly.  Two years after her mother's death (1907) Anna Jarvis and her friends began a letter writing campaign to gain the support of influential ministers, businessmen and congressmen in declaring a national Mother's Day holiday.  She felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother enough while the mother was still alive.  She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.

The first Mother's Day observance was a church service honoring Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis, held at Anna Jarvis's request in Grafton, West Virginia, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1908.  Carnations, her mother's favorite flowers, were supplied at that first service by Miss Jarvis.  White carnations were chosen because they represented the sweetness, purity and endurance of mother love.  Red carnations, in time, became the symbol of a living mother.  White ones now signify that one's mother has died.

The first Mother's Day proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia in 1910.  Oklahoma celebrated Mother's Day that year as well.  By 1911, every state had its own observances.  By then other areas celebrating Mother's Day included Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South America and Africa.  The Mother's Day International Association was incorporated on December 12, 1912, with the purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mother's Day.

The House of Representatives in May, 1913, unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the President, his Cabinet, members of Congress, and all officials of the federal government to wear a white carnation on Mother's Day.  Congress passed another Joint Resolution May 8, 1914, designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.  The U.S. flag is to be displayed on government buildings and at people's homes "as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."

President Woodrow Wilson issued the first proclamation making Mother's Day an official national holiday.

That takes care of this month's educational section.