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A history of Mother's Day
By HOLLY HILDEBRAND
Houston Chronicle Interactive
The first celebrations in honor of mothers were held in the spring in ancient Greece. They paid tribute to Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 17th century, England honored mothers on \"Mothering Sunday,\" celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
In the United States, Julia Ward Howe suggested the idea of Mother's Day in 1872. Howe, who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, saw Mother's Day as being dedicated to peace.
Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia is credited with bringing about the official observance of Mother's Day. Her campaign to establish such a holiday began as a remembrance of her mother, who died in 1905 and who had, in the late 19th century, tried to establish \"Mother's Friendship Days\" as a way to heal the scars of the Civil War.
Two years after her mother died, Jarvis held a ceremony in Grafton, W. Va., to honor her. She was so moved by the proceedings that she began a massive campaign to adopt a formal holiday honoring mothers. In 1910, West Virginia became the first state to recognize Mother's Day. A year later, nearly every state officially marked the day. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed Mother's Day as a national holiday to be held on the second Sunday of May.
But Jarvis' accomplishment soon turned bitter for her. Enraged by the commercialization of the holiday, she filed a lawsuit to stop a 1923 Mother's Day festival and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a war mothers' convention where women sold white carnations -- Jarvis' symbol for mothers -- to raise money. \"This is not what I intended,\" Jarvis said. \"I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit!\"
When she died in 1948, at age 84, Jarvis had become a woman of great ironies. Never a mother herself, her maternal fortune dissipated by her efforts to stop the commercialization of the holiday she had founded, Jarvis told a reporter shortly before her death that she was sorry she had ever started Mother's Day. She spoke these words in a nursing home where every Mother's Day her room had been filled with cards from all over the world.
Today, because and despite Jarvis' efforts, many celebrations of Mother's Days are held throughout the world. Although they do not all fall at the same time, such countries as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Belgium also celebrate Mother's Day on the same day as the United States.
A Poem by an Unknown Author
Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born.
One day he asked God: \"They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?\"
GOD replied, \"Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you.\"
\"But tell me, here in Heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and smile, that's enough for me to be happy.\"
\"Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. And you will feel your angel's love and be happy.\"
\"And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me, if I don't know the language that men talk?\"
\"Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.\"
\"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?\"
\"Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.\"
\"I've heard that on earth there are bad men. Who will protect me?\"
\"Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.\"
\"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.\"
\"Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you.\"
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard.
And the child in a hurry asked softly: \"Oh God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.\"
\"Your angel's name is of no importance, you will call your angel: 'Mommy'.\"
Author Unknown
A Mother's Day Thought
Today is Mother’s Day
To honor you in a special way.
I thank you for all your love...
For all that you do and say.
I thank you for the warm hugs.
For cleaning my wounded knees.
I love you for always being there.
For being so easy to love & please.
I thank you for the many years
you worked to keep me fed.
I think about the unnecessary tears
that I caused you to shed.
I thank you for being a great chef.
Oh those pies you made for me.
I thank you for being the chauffeur
that took me places I wanted to be.
Oh those times you fixed my jeans
when I tore them on the playground.
It was so wonderful just to know...
Momma was always around.
Oh, Momma, look how time has passed us by.
I now have children of my own.
It’s just that today is YOUR day for me.
It doesn't change just because I'm grown!
There is no love, like a mother's love,
no stronger bond on earth...
like the precious bond that comes from God,
to a mother, when she gives birth.
A mother's love is forever strong,
never changing for all time...
and when her children need her most,
a mother's love will shine.
God bless these special mothers,
God bless them every one...
for all the tears and heartache,
and for the special work they've done.
When her days on earth are over,
a mother's love lives on...
through many generations,
with God's blessings on each one.
Be thankful for our mothers,
for they love with a higher love...
from the power God has given,
and the strength from up above.
by Jill Lemming
I Love You, Mom
... and I Want You to Know Why
I Feel So Proud to Be Your Daughter
You are a remarkable woman
who accomplishes so much as a
strong woman
in a man's world
You are strong but soft
You are strong but caring
You are strong but compassionate
You are a remarkable woman
who accomplishes so much as a
giving woman
in a selfish world
You give to your friends
You give to your family
You give to everyone
You are a remarkable woman
who is also a remarkable mother
And you are loved by so many people
whose lives you have touched -
especially me
-Poem by Susan Polis Schutz
A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.
--Victor Hugo
All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother. I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.
--Abraham Lincoln
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.
--Washington Irving
A mother had a slender, small body, but a large heart -- a heart so large that everybody's grief and everybody's joy found welcome in it, and hospitable accommodation.
--Mark Twain
The mother loves her child most divinely, not when she surrounds him with comfort and anticipates his wants, but when she resolutely holds him to the highest standards and is content with nothing less than his best.
--Hamilton Wright Mabie |
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发表于 2006-5-13 18:11:00
