Mother’s Day is one of the biggest days of the year for card manufacturers, candy dealers and florists. In fact for florists it is by far their busiest day of the year. Although the celebration of mother figures in springtime goes back as far as ancient Greece, Mother’s Day is a relatively new national holiday in the U.S., having been first proposed in 1908.
Its origins here go back to the 19th century. The most commonly accepted theory is that it dates to the U.S. Civil War. Ann Jarvis had the idea to bring together the mothers of Union and Confederate soldiers to find a solution to the war. In 1868 she established a Mother’s Friendship Day to unify the polarized North and South.
Two years later Julia Ward Howe carried the idea further by issuing a Mother’s Day Proclamation for peace every June beginning in 1870. The intention was similar to Jarvis' for the mothers of the world to gather together to find a way of avoiding future wars, but like Jarvis's Friendship Day, the idea never really took off.
After Ann Jarvis’ death, her daughter Anna decided to continue her work by petitioning for a National Mother’s Day to be celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Though first rejected in 1908 by congress, her idea soon caught on by individual states. Eventually President Woodrow Wilson declared National Mother’s Day a holiday in May, 1914.
Mothers shown in majolica are plentiful. One of the most charming is Minton's nesting bird feeding her young, but mother birds both nesting and with their young is a popular theme across the European continent. Here are some examples.
Happy Mother's Day to all those who celebrate!