The Huffington Post – by Emily Cohn
The founder of Mother’s Day wouldn’t have wanted you to buy those flowers for mom. Or that card. Or those chocolates. In all likelihood, she wouldn’t have wanted you to celebrate the holiday at all.
The fact that we will collectively spend nearly $20 billion on moms this year probably would have caused Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother’s Day, to throw her lunch on the floor like she reportedly didin the early 1900s, when she found out that a department store in Philadelphia was offering a Mother’s Day special, according to Mental Floss.
Jarvis — a West Virginia woman who didn’t even have children of her own, according to History.com— came up with the idea for a Mother’s Day holiday, organizing the first celebration at a Methodist church in 1908. Annoyed that most American holidays were dedicated to honoring male achievements, Jarvis started a letter-writing campaign to make it a national holiday, involving wearing a white carnation, visiting your mother and maybe going to church.
Her campaign worked, but not in the way she hoped: She never wanted Mother’s Day to be the commercial holiday it quickly came to be. (Although maybe she should have thought twice about getting financing for the first celebration from the owner of Wanamaker’s, a major department store at the time.)
Soon after Congress made Mother’s Day an official holiday in 1914, Jarvis was actively campaigning against it, leveling harsh criticism against florists, candy makers, greeting-card companies and anyone else looking to make a buck off the holiday.
A 1924 story published in the Miami Daily News and Metropolis detailed Jarvis’s distaste for what Mother’s Day had become. It pretty much comes down to this:
Consumerism stinks.
“Commercialization of Mother’s Day is growing every year,” says she. “Since the movement has spread to all parts of the world, many things have tried to attach themselves because of its success.”
Florists are the worst.
“The red carnation has no connection with Mother’s Day. Yet florists have spread the idea that it should be worn for mother who has passed away. This has boosted the sale of red carnations.”
Candy makers are also the worst.
“Confectioners put a white ribbon on a box of candy and advance the price just because it’s Mother’s Day,” she charges. “There is no connection between candy and this day. It is pure commercialization.
Greeting card makers are terrible (as are lazy kids who just send pre-written cards):
“The sending of a wire is not sufficient. Write a letter to your mother. No person is too busy to do this. Any mother would rather have a line of the worst scribble from her son or daughter than any fancy greeting card or telegram.”
So there you have it. Straight from the founder of Mother’s Day herself.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/08/anna-jarvis-mothers-day_n_5282952.html
I have always told my children that I had rather have a card they made themselves. A store bought card means absolutely nothing to me. As a matter of fact, I have told my children to quit getting me gifts at all. I had rather just spend some time with them and let them save that money they would otherwise give to a corporation. Actually, I don’t celebrate ANY holiday, as they are ALL commercial.
Damned right j.g. I agree
Yep I agree with the article. all these so called holidays are nothing more than comercialism at best any more.
Kind of like the more paper money etc. the more your life is worth 🙁
Yes, good article Angel.
Hey digger, I think if you talked to the “founder” of Christmas and Easter, he’d be more than disappointed in what we have done in his name. Like Bill Hicks said, “F ’em Dad, I’m not going back. They’re still wearing crosses down there, maybe if they start wearing the fish, I’m just gonna stay here with you and bury dinosaur bones.”
Made mom some homemade soap, and sent her a plant as well. Also jotted down a few sweet lines on a piece of paper.
agree with yall. all holidays have been about the money for many years now.I have told my wife that down through the years.
It’s you duty to be a compulsive consumer every Holiday and pay 18% interest on your maxed-out credit card buying cheap Chinese sh!t that’ll break the first time you use it or you’ll look at this crap when you get home and wonder “What was I thinking”. You weren’t thinking, that’s the problem with marketing. They could sell freezers to the Eskimos.