Mother’s Day is around the corner, May 9, 2021. Time to stock your store.

What is the history of Mother’s Day?

The American idea of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official US holiday in 1914.

The celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele.

Mother’s Day was a big celebration in the UK and parts of Europe, but was seen more like a faith-based celebration as it fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was a return to their “mother church.” Over time this Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present gifts to their mothers.

Did you know? More phone calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year. These calls with mom cause phone traffic to spike by as much as 37 percent.

In the 1900s Anna Jarvis came up with this idea after her mother passed away. She believed creating Mother’s Day was a great way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. She inquired about and received financial backing from a Philadelphia store owner, and in May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Virginia. She was adamant this day become a national holiday because she felt there was a strong bias toward male achievement. Anna worked hard writing letters to politicians to urge them to make a special day to honor motherhood. In 1912 many states adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, but nothing prepared Anna Jarvis for how commercial the holiday would become. Her vision was a special day where children celebrated their mothers, but soon the florists and merchants capitalized on its popularity.

Many different versions of Mother’s Day are celebrated worldwide with different traditions. Not all are in May but most include special cards and gifts.