History Of Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day!

The history of Mother's Day is centuries old and the earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, the early Christians in England celebrated a day to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. By a religious order the holiday was later expanded in its scope to include all mothers, and named as the Mothering Sunday. Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter), "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England.

During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday, the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church" - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.

With the passage of time, the practice of this fantastic tradition ceased slowly. The English colonists settled in America discontinued the tradition of Mothering Sunday because of lack of time.

In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was first suggested after the American Civil War by social activist Julia Ward Howe. Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) was horrified by the carnage of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War and so, in 1870, she tried to issue a manifesto for peace at international peace conferences in London and Paris (it was much like the later Mother's Day Peace Proclamation). During the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870s, Julia began a one-woman peace crusade and made an impassioned "appeal to womanhood" to rise against war. She composed in Boston a powerful plea that same year (generally considered to be the original Mothers' Day proclamation*) translated it into several languages and distributed it widely. In 1872, she went to London to promote an international Woman's Peace Congress. She began promoting the idea of a "Mother's Day for Peace" to be celebrated on June 2, honoring peace, motherhood and womanhood. In the Boston Mass, she initiated a Mothers' Peace Day observance on the second Sunday in June, a practice that was to be established as an annual event and practiced for at least 10 years. The day was, however, mainly intended as a call to unite women against war. It was due to her efforts that in 1873, women in 18 cities in America held a Mother's Day for Pace gathering. Howe rigorously championed the cause of official celebration of Mothers Day and declaration of official holiday on the day. She held meetings every year at Boston on Mother's Peace Day and took care that the day was well-observed. The celebrations died out when she turned her efforts to working for peace and women's rights in other ways. Howe failed in her attempt to get the formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her remarkable contribution in the establishment of Mother's Day, however, remains in the fact that she organized a Mother's Day dedicated to peace. It is a landmark in the history of Mother's Day in the sense that this was to be the precursor to the modern Mother's Day celebrations. To acknowledge Howe's achievements a stamp was issued in her honor in 1988.

It should be well to remember that Howe's idea was influenced by Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called "Mothers Friendship Day". In the 1900's, at a time when most women devoted their time solely on their family and homes, Jarvis was working to assist in the healing of the nation after the Civil War. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors. Ann was instrumental in saving thousands of lives by teaching women in her Mothers Friendship Clubs the basics of nursing and sanitation which she had learned from her famous physician brother James Reeves, M.D. In parts of the United States it was customary to plant tomatoes outdoors after Mother's Work Days (and not before).

It was Jarvis' daughter, Anna Jarvis, who finally succeeded in introducing Mother's Day in the sense as we celebrate it today. Anna graduated from the Female Seminary in Wheeling and taught in Grafton for a while. Later she moved to Philadelphia with her family. Anna had spent many years looking after her ailing mother. This is why she preferred to remain a spinster. When her mother died in Philadelphia on May 9, 1905, Anna missed her greatly. So did her sister Elsinore whom she looked after as well. Anna felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother enough while the mother was still alive. Now, she intended to start a Mother's Day, as an honoring of the mothers. In 1907, two years after her mother's death, Anna Jarvis disclosed her intention to her friends who supported her cause wholeheartedly. So supported by her friends, Anna decided to dedicate her life to her mother's cause and to establish Mother's Day to "honor mothers, living and dead." She started the campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. With her friends, she started a letter-writing campaign to urge ministers, businessmen and congressmen in declaring a national Mother's Day holiday. She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.

As a result of her efforts the first mother's day was observed on May 10, 1908, by a church service honoring Late Mrs. Reese Jarvis, in the Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where she spent 20 years taking Sunday school classes. Grafton is the home to the International Mother's Day Shrine. Another service was also conducted on the same date in Philadelphia where Mrs. Jarvis died, leaving her two daughters Anna and Elsinore. So it was more of a homage service for Mrs. Reeves Jarvis than a general one conducted in honor of motherhood. Nevertheless, this set the stage for the later Mother's Day observances held in the honor of motherhood.

Following this, it gained a widespread popularity across the nation. The Mother's Day International Association came into being on December 12, 1912, to promote and encourage meaningful observances of the event. Anna's dream came true when on May 9, 1914, the Presidential proclamation declared the 2nd Sunday of May to be observed as Mother's Day to honor the mothers.

It was here in the first observance that the carnations were introduced by Miss Jarvis. Large jars of white carnations were set about the platform where the service was conducted. At the end of the exercise one of these white carnations was given to each person present as a souvenir of Mother's Day. All this was done because the late elder Jarvis was fond of carnations.

From there, the custom caught on -- spreading eventually to 45 states. The first Mother's Day proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia in 1910. Oklahoma celebrated it in that same year. It stirred the same way in as far west as the state of Washington. And by 1911 there was not a state in the Union that did not have its own observances for Mother's Day. Soon it crossed the national boundary, as people in Mexico, Canada, South America, China, Japan and Africa all joined the spree to celebrate a day for mother love.

The Mother's Day International Association came into being on December 12, 1912, to promote and encourage meaningful observances of the event. Starting from 1912, Mother's day began to be officially declared a holiday by some states. Anna's dream came true when in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

The House of Representatives in May 1913 unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the President, his cabinet, the members of both Houses and all officials of the federal government to wear a white carnation on Mother's Day. On May 7,1914, a resolution providing that the second Sunday in May be designated Mother's Day was introduced by Representative James T. Heflin of Alabama and Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas. It passed both Houses and on May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made the first official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May. He asked Americans to give a public expression of reverence to mothers through the celebration of Mother's Day:

"Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the said Joint Resolution, do hereby direct the government officials to display the United States flag on all government buildings and do invite the people of the United States to display the flag at their homes or other suitable places on the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."

And issuing a Mother's day Proclamation has since then been a convention.

Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. While honored for her part in the growth of the holiday, Anna Jarvis' last life was miserable. As the observance of Mother's Day enjoyed increasing popularity, new dimensions came to be added to it. This made Anna Jarvis disillusioned with her own creation. Though the original spirit of honoring the mothers remained the same, what began as a religious service expanded quickly into a more secular observance leading to giving of flowers, cards, and gifts. And Anna Jarvis was unable to cope with this changing mode of expression.

In 1934 Postmaster General James A. Farley announced a stamp to commemorate Mother's Day. The stamp featured the famous painting "Arrangement in Grey and Black". The painting was a portrait of the mother of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, an English artist. It was brought in to the United States as part of an exhibit in the year 1934.

Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States. The occasion is now celebrated not so much with flags as with gifts, cards, hugs, thank yous and other tokens of affection. While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day on different days and at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May. In some countries, the appreciation lasts for two days.

Today, Mother's Day is a day honoring mothers, celebrated on various days in many places around the world. It is the day when you acknowledge your mothers contribution in your life and pay a tribute to her, often with flowers and gifts. It complements Father's Day, the celebration honoring fathers.

Credit for information goes to the website below...
http://www.theholidayspot.com/mothersday/history.htm

A Beauty Blog

Once in awhile there is a beauty product that comes along that stands out amongst all others -- Smiths RoseBud Salve being one of them.

Smiths Rosebud Salve is a multi - purpose salve, suitable for endless uses - the most popular one being a lip balm. But it doesn't end there. Smiths Rosebud Salve can be used as a cuticle softener, diaper rash ointment, fly aways to name a few.

The product is packaged in a cute vintage tin - navy, white and rose accents. The scent is a light rose scent, nothing over powering and the tin has a net weight of 0.8 oz.

I would encourage everyone to pick this up, it gets a lot of great reviews as it should - it's an amazing product.

Links to check out:

History of Company
http://www.rosebudperfume.com/

Reviews
http://www.chickadvisor.com/item/smiths-rosebud-salve.html

Where To Buy
www.sephora.com

Poem

"Fear"

i feel myself tremble
every inch of my body
with my mind racing
every inch of the way
second after second
my fear grows stronger
my heart pounding louder
with my feet planted firmly
i try and move
but i just get more tense
i can't seem to see
things are getting so blurry
i try and scream
but nothing comes out
my feet ready to run
but i still can't see
things are getting so black
i manage to move
i stumble and fall
there is no turning back
i hold myself up
trembling from fear
with a will to go on
and eyes that can not see
i fall down and weep
my body so tired
my eyes so black

I wrote this about 10 yrs ago, Its still one of my favorites that Ive written!

My Hurting Heart

I don't know how I'm to feel in times when all I should be feeling is happiness for my cousin and his fiance but all I feel is sadness. I'm happy that Blake arrived safely, but seeing my family with Blake and holding him, hurts me that I won't be seeing my baby boy in July. I'm trying so hard not to be selfish and not feeling that it's all about me and my baby, but I just can't help it. I want to tell them to think about me and my baby that I never got to hold. And I wonder if they do think about how Im feeling about the days that are leading up to what would have been Jon's birthday. I want people to remember that I'm hurting. I want them to remember in times of their happiness that I'm hurting deep down. That must sound like the weirdest thing on earth but it's true. I don't want to feel alone, I don't want to go through the pain alone and I don't want people to think that I'm moving on as quickly and they think I may be moving on.

Fear

Fear is such a terrible feeling. It wraps itself around you until you think you are being stretched beyond your capacity. I don't deal well with changing atmospheres. And I'm horrible at making decisions. Do I do this? Or do I do that? I mull over it till Im blue in face. Eventually I do make decisions, it just takes a while.

I have been off for three months now, but not by my own choice. In January, I got laid from my job that I had been employed at for the past 6+ years. You would think that I would be freaking out, but I was calm as could be. At the time I had found out that I was pregnant, so getting laid off was the perfect thing. I could take time off before the baby was born.

Then in February we went to the dr's for a check up and the dr couldn't find a heartbeat, so we went in for an ultrasound and there was no heartbeat. It looked as though from the measurments that the ultrasound technician was taking that the baby had stopped growing. We were quite devestated because it was out first child. I was 19 weeks.

We went to the hospital where I was induced and twelve hours later I gave birth to our baby boy, Jonathan. We didn't get to hold him, or see his face. But we were able to get photos from the hospital of his feet and hands. So small and so precious. It makes my heart hurt thinking about that day and the pain that still exists today. It may never go away completly, lingering somewhere in the depths of my heart.

Now, that I feel like Im ready to go back to work, I have so much fear about working in a new place. I get so nervous in new situations, and I always feel like I am going to be horrible. A part of me had wanted to leave my job for awhile because it was so mundane at times. But the part of me that kept me there was fear and uncertainty of the unknown. So I stayed.

So here I am looking for a new job and really nervous about starting a new job. I can not tell you what the future holds and what will happen but I have to beleive that these things happen for a reason. If we become too complacent, I think that limits us from growing and does not allow us to deal with change.

I am hoping that I can deal better with fear. One day at a time.

Fifteen

Recently, I discovered a song called "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift while I was cruising on youtube. Have you ever heard a song that speaks to you and brings back memories? Well, this is one of those that I think everyone can relate to.
Being fifteen, we think we know so much about what the world. We think we know what we want and what we don't want. But as this song states, you don't know what half of what you think you know.
And its so true. You tell a boy that you love him, and you believe that it's love. You were meant for eachother and nothing and no one can tell you otherwise. You are fifteen and have your life figured out. Life couldn't be better.
Looking back, you realize that you hadn't figured out the meaning of life, You're not likely to marry the same boyfriend that you had when you were fifteen and you're not likely to understand why you may never marry that same boyfriend that you had when you were fifteen.
I love music that makes you remember how you felt at one point in your life, It can bring you back to a time in your life when your current life seems worlds apart. It can set you up, lift you up, fill you up with all those memories.

High School Love by Hannah Louise on Polyvore.com

Here are the lyrics.. Fifteen by Taylor Swift

You take a deep breath and you walk through the doors
Its the morning of your very first day
you say hi to your friends you aint seen in a while
Try and stay out of everybodys way
its your freshman year and youre gonna be here
for the next four years in this town
hoping one of those senior boys will wink at you and say
you know I havent seen you around, before

Cause when youre fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
youre gonna believe them
and when youre fifteen
feeling like there nothing to figure out
well count to ten, take it in
this is life before who youre gonna be
fifteen

You sit in class next to a redhead named Abigail
and soon enough youre best friends
laughing at the other girls who think theyre so cool
well be out of here as soon as we can
and then youre on your very first date and hes got a car
and youre feeling like flying
and youre momas waiting up and you think hes the one
and youre dancing round your room when the night end
when the night ends

Cause when youre fifteen and somebody tell you they love you
youre gonna believe them
when youre fifteen and your first kiss
makes your head spin round but
in your life youll do greater than dating the boy on the football team
but I didnt know it at fifteen

When all you wanted was to be wanted
wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now
Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday
but I realized some bigger dreams of mine

and Abigail gave everything she had to a boy
who changed his mind and we both cried

Cause when youre fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
youre gonna believe them
and when youre fifteen, dont forget to look before you fall
Ive found that time can heal most anything
and you just might find who youre supposed to be
I didnt know who I was supposed to be at fifteen

La la la la la .. la la la la la . La la la la la

Youre very first day
take a deep breath girl
take a deep breath as you walk through those doors.

Challenge Me

A couple of days ago, I picked up my Moutain Equipment Coop magazine that had been lying by bedside buried amongst piles of books and magazine. I had the thought to read it as when I recieved it I didn't really even look at it, I just sort of tossed it aside.

After flipping through the pages of magazine and thinking about what my next purchase would be(perahaps a new small carry all?)I came across page 79, to which there was a small article about two contest winners who had received a $1000 gift card from MEC.

Basically, Grant and Jen as well as their roommate made a pledge to not buy ANYTHING for a whole year. That means clothing, cds, makeup, shoes, etc. You get the point. And at the end of the year, whoever had the least amount of garbage in their bin won. It's called the CLEAN BIN PROJECT.

After going to the projects site(www.cleanbin.wordpress.com) and reading more about the challenge, I got to thinking about how much "stuff" every person buys on a daily basis. Starbucks coffee, garbage. Cd wrappers, garbage. Tooth brush packaging, garbage. It adds up over the year!

I began to think about my own purchases, and how much stuff I buy that I really don't need. Yesterday I bought some makeup brushes that I had been eyeing for a while which by the way, were on sale. Still, I can't help but think that I didn't actually need them. And how about my slurpee run almost daily to the Mac's beside us. Those plastic cups they come in add up!

So while I don't think I could be as hardcore as Grant, Jen and their roommate Rhyannon(think composting, recycling, and even makeing your own cleaning products including toothpaste, yes toothpaste!)I think that this can teach us/me/we about how we choose to spend our money.

So, Im going to challenge myself to limit what I purchase to a minimum. I will try not to buy anything that I do not need, and if I do purchase something, I will be sure that it is resuable, and that I don't buy anything that I already have(for example I already have enough shampoo to last me a year).

I am interested in seeing how this challenge will stretch my will power.

I would like to encourage my friends to hold me accountable to my actions, keeping me focused and cheering me on.

Wish me Luck!

Sunshine Vs Rain

Today, it is raining. Im sitting on the couch, with the patio door open, over looking the city, while the cool breeze blows inside. It is so nice to have cool air, though I am not one for rain, I do not like the heat, heat, heat. Call me crazy, but over the last couple of years, I've taken preference over the cooler air. Even Autumn air I love. But I would like it if the sun decided to come out today. Not likely though.

I am watching a tv show on storm chasers. Some of it looks like fun, but most of it looks like a real mess to be involved with. I don't think that I could handle being out in the middle of nowhere and have hail the size of golf balls falling from the sky and hitting me in the head. Apparently, hail the size of golf balls can be deadly. How fun!

I am going shopping today, because it would seem that I need new pants. I got a call for a job so hopefully.. I can find some at a good price because there is nothing more that I hate than having to buy overpriced clothes.

I wish that we had space for a roll and grow. It is a long sheet of seeds that you can cut you just roll out, hence Roll'Grow. Its on the television right now. But I think I have seen it in stores. Maybe until then I will go to home depot and pick up some pretty flowers and hang them from the balcony.

I must go shopping. Here's hoping that I find some good clothes for this new job of mine.

Stay tuned for updates