Mother’s Day marks 100th year

By Donathan Prater

Published: May 10, 2008

Mothers across the country will get a much welcomed reprieve from standing over the stove today when they’re taken out to dinner in celebration of Mother’s Day.

Although Americans are accustomed to celebrating the second Sunday in May, some of the earliest Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced to ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods, according to http://www.theholidayspot.com.

“Every culture has honored the mother’s role in the family or as a giver of life in one way or another,” said Gregory Kowalski, professor of sociology at Auburn University. “There is also the mother reference used in regards to institutions like ‘Mother Earth’ or the ‘mother church.’ ”

“Mother’s Day has an important history in the U.S. because it’s believed that the holiday developed during the years of the Civil War as a way for mothers to advocate peace,” said Kowalski.

But the real driving force behind Mother’s Day as most people know it came from Anna Jarvis, who organized observances of the holiday in Grafton, W. Va., and Philadelphia on May 10, 1908, before getting Congress to officially designate the second Sunday in May for the holiday.

While Mother’s Day — like so many other holidays — has become commercialized, Kowalski said the true motivation behind the holiday still seemed to be the honoring mothers and family, as well the value we place on those things in our society.

“For some it may be easier to buy a gift than to say thanks for what their mothers have done for them,” Kowalski said. “But I’m sure more mothers would be just as happy if their children picked up the phone gave them a call.”

Here are some facts about mothers and Mother’s Day:

-- There were an estimated 82.8 million mothers in the U.S. in 2004, according to U.S. Census Bureau.

-- According to the National Retail Federation, the average consumer will spend $138.63 on Mother’s Day this year.

-- The likelihood of a woman delivering twins in the U.S. in 2005 was 1 in 31. The odds of delivering triplets were 1 in 618.

-- There were 21,135 established florists in business nationwide in 2005.

-- The wearing of a carnation on Mother’s Day is customary in some areas. A colored carnation indicates that the wearer’s mother is still living. A white Carnation indicates the wearer’s mother is deceased.