"Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers, and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one Mother in the whole world." ~ Kate Douglas Wiggin
Mother's Day... the day to celebrate mothers. "Only mothers can think of the future," said Russian playwright Maxim Gorky, "because they give birth to it in their children."
The founder of Mother's Day was West Virginia's Anna Jarvis, who promised at her mother's gravesite in 1905 to establish a day to honor mothers, living and dead.
Jarvis said that mothers could never be thanked enough and lobbied to celebrate "the love and gratitude we owe to those who gave us birth."
Jarvis envisioned the day as a quiet observance, at church or home. She encouraged the remembrance of wearing and giving white carnations, her mother's favorite flower.
By 1911, Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state in the Union. Congress passed a Mother’s Day resolution in 1914, proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the second Sunday of May. Other countries also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May, including Denmark, Finland, Italy, Belgium, and Australia.
"Mighty is the force of motherhood!" celebrated Victorian writer George Eliot. "It transforms all things by its vital heart."
More MOTHERHOOD Quotations
Celebrate the unending light of Motherhood.