By BESS J.M. HOCHSTEIN.
My mother has some ‘tude about Mother’s Day. I still remember her dismissively calling it a “Hallmark holiday” when I was growing up. It was a no-win situation: Even though she found the premise contrived, she’d be upset if I didn’t send a card or a gift or call her. But I doubt my mother would disparage Mother’s Day as much if she knew the holiday’s origins—to acknowledge motherhood as sacred, to reconnect to one’s family, and promote peace by helping less fortunate mothers and children around the world.
Mothers have been celebrated since pre-Christian days, in ancient Egyptian festivals honoring the goddess Isis, “the mother of the pharaohs” and Greek and Roman festivals for “the Great Mother,” Cybele, or ancient Greece’s “mother of the gods,” Rhea. "Mothering Sunday" was established in 17th-century England, based on an early-Christian tradition of honoring one’s Mother Church on the fourth Sunday of Lent; the holiday provided time off for young servants and apprentices to return to their birthplaces and visit their families.
The Puritans let Mothering Day lapse when they settled in America, but in 1870 Juliet Ward Howe, who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," penned her "Mother’s Day Proclamation" and called for a holiday to celebrate motherhood and peace in the aftermath of the Civil War’s carnage. Howe was inspired by Mothering Sunday and by the efforts of an Ann Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker who sought to improve sanitary conditions during the Civil War through “Mother’s Work Days.” While the momentum behind Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace soon sputtered, the crusade to establish Mother’s Day as an official holiday revived in 1908 when Ann Jarvis’s daughter, Anna Jarvis, took up the mantle of commemorating motherhood. Jarvis’ home state of West Virginia was the first to officially embrace the Mother’s Day in 1912, and two years later Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it a national holiday. Jarvis inadvertently initiated the association between Mother’s Day and flowers by handing out white carnations—her mother’s favorite—at her church to mark the day.
Julia Ward Howe, Anna Jarvis, and my own mother would be cheered by new initiatives to mark Mother’s Day that hark back to the holiday’s original ideals. Check out these organizations for just a few ways you can celebrate Mother’s Day with compassion. Reach out across borders to mothers and children in need, either in your name or to honor that special mama in your life.
- Mother’s Acting Up is helping women across the country organize parades, picnics, block parties, and other gatherings to “Reclaim Mother’s Day” and reaffirm Julia Ward Howe’s vision of mothers everywhere rising up to protect the world’s children. The organization works with the Stand for the World’s Children campaign, urging President Obama to designate a Children’s Ambassador and make a commitment to fund, coordinate, and monitor programs that benefit the world’s orphans and other vulnerable children. Find a Mother’s Day event near you.
- The International Rescue Committee has put together special Mother’s Day “baskets” for women and children whose lives have been shattered by violent conflict and oppression. Baskets are available in the categories of Health, Education, Safety, and Home, with a wide range of options depending on the level of donation. Choices include bassinets and blankets to keep babies warm; knapsacks full of school supplies for refugee children resettled in the United States; postpartum care for mothers with life-threatening birth complications; and farming kits with tools and seeds to help former child soldiers establish a productive livelihood and reintegrate into their communities. Donors receive a special IRC gift card, which you can give to the mother in whose honor you are making this gift.
- Save the Children has a selection of Mother’s Day “Gifts That Do Good.” Your donation can help break the cycle of poverty in impoverished US rural communities by focusing on early education, literacy, and nutrition programs; provide medicine and micronutrients to children around the world; fund a girl’s education for a year; or allow you to sponsor a child. If you donate in a mother’s name, she’ll receive a gift card explaining how your contribution improves the lives of children in need.
- One HEART works to save the lives of mothers and children in Tibet, one birth at a time, by providing prenatal health care and promoting safe childbirth. The organization brings women to Lhasa to train to be skilled birth attendants, and they then return to their communities and provide services to pregnant women. When you contribute to One HEART's Mother's Day Fund in honor of the mother in your life, she’ll receive a beautiful gift card inside a handmade Tibetan cloth envelope, telling of your donation in her name.
- Maternity Worldwide saves the lives of African mothers and babies in childbirth, providing women with access to professional care by training medical and midwifery staff. For its “Ultimate Mother’s Day Gift,” you can honor your mother with a donation to fund a safe birth at the organization’s hospital in Gimbie, Ethiopia, and Maternity Worldwide will send a personalized certificate of sponsorship to your mother. Other gift options are available, such as funding emergency surgery—for example, a cesarian section—and sponsorship of women’s groups projects in Ethiopia.
- Through Women for Women International you can make an online donation in honor of your mother to help women survivors of war start over by providing them with the tools they need to support their families, embrace their rights, and participate in the rebuilding of their communities. Your mother will receive a card made by a participant in the organization’s program in Rwanda.
- Metta Journeys (which we featured in our article, Green Mother's Day Gifts for Any Budget) lets you combine travel with philanthropy. This new group partners with nonprofit organizations that help women and girls, arranging trips to connect travelers with the people and communities that are aided by the nonprofit. Trip participants are required to make a donation to the partner organization. In its inaugural trip to Rwanda, Metta Journeys partnered with Women for Women International; all 21 participants made a commitment to sponsor at least one Rwandan woman for a year, and all sponsors met their Rwandan beneficiaries. The trip also included more typical vacation activities, such as a gorilla trek, guided tours, shopping in local markets, and yoga classes. Future Metta Journeys will include a trip to Bosnia and a return to Rwanda.
You can also take your own initiative to help other women in honor of Mother’s Day, such as donating to a local women’s shelter, making a contribution to breast cancer research, visiting a senior citizens center or children’s cancer ward, or volunteering at a local literacy program. Whichever you choose, these compassionate gifts will bring more meaning to your Mother’s Day.
Bess J.M. Hochstein is a freelance writer living in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts.