Tomorrow's News

By Matthew Foster

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Many people believe that the foundations of Mother’s Day — which is tomorrow — can be found in the celebrations of ancient civilizations. Egyptian, Greek and Roman festivals paid tribute to mother goddesses like Isis and Rhea. The festivals were celebrated at approximately the same time in the spring as Mother’s Day is today.

The celebration was adapted to Christian beliefs as it spread through Europe during the first millennium. It evolved from a recognition of individual “Mother Churches” to become a broader celebration of all mothers, known as Mothering Day, in 17th-century England.

Europeans migrating to the New World, however, did not bring the tradition with them, and Mother’s Day in America was not even a concept until 1870 when Julia Ward Howe thought of reintroducing the holiday as a way for mothers to promote peace during the aftermath of the Civil War. In 1908, the first Mother’s Day celebration took place in Grafton, W.V., at Andrews Methodist Church, which has now become an international Mother’s Day shrine.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson dedicated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Today, Mother’s Day is celebrated in at least 100 countries worldwide on dates that range from February to December.

In the United States, Mother’s Day is one of the most commercially successful holidays of all time. This Mother’s Day, the National Retail Foundation predicts the holiday will become a $14 billion industry. Retailers report that it is second only to Christmas in the amount of gifts given and restaurants claim it’s their busiest day of the year. Florists report their highest sales during the month of May and there is a peak in long-distance telephone calls around Mother’s Day.

Source: www.mothersdaycentral.com

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