The Founder Of Mother's Day Died Boycotting It, Anna Jarvis' Story

Mother's Day 2018 will be celebrated across the world on May 13. It's a day to honour the mothers and express one's love and gratitude towards them. Many, however, started to feel that this day became commercialized, including the Mother's Day founder Anna Jarvis.

Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis, a US national, held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton in West Virginia. She campaigned to make Mother's Day a recognized holiday in the United States after her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis, a peace activist, died in 1905. Ann Jarvis cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War, and created Mother's Day Work Clubs to address people's health issues.

To honor her mother by continuing the work she started, she campaigned to set aside a day to honor all the mothers as she believed a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world".

Former US President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 signed a proclamation and designated Mother's Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honour mothers.

By the early 1920s, however, card companies started selling Mother's Day cards. Anna Jarvis believed that this exploited the idea of Mother's Day.

"A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother-and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment," she had said.

After the commercialization of the day, Anna Jarvis organised boycotts of Mother's Day, and threatened to issue lawsuits against the companies involved. She also protested against this at various public meetings.

While others profited from the day, Anna's efforts to hold on to the original meaning of the day led to her own economic hardship. Her committee supported her and helped to continue her movement during her declining health. She died on November 24, 1948.