Mother’s Day 2017

Universal Mother’s Day 2017

A mother’s love is universal. She loves us more than we can imagine. She has laughed with us, grown with us and has a great contribution in making us what we are today. We cannot repay her what she has done for us. And Mother’s Day is something when we can make her special. And she is someone who gets impressed even with a simple hand-made greeting card. It is the day to show your appreciation(प्रशंसा) towards mothers and all the motherly figures in your life. Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May every year. In 2017, the day falls on May 14. Mother’s Day was founded by an American named Anna Jarvis in the early 20th century. The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1908 when Anna held a memorial for her mother Ann Jarvis at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in West Virginia. Anna started a campaign in the United States in 1905 to dedicate a complete day for mothers. Her mother was a peace activist who nursed wounded(घायल) soldiers in the American Civil War and also founded Mother’s Day Work Clubs to solve public health issues. As a tribute to her contribution (योगदान) to the society Anna came up with the idea of ‘Mother’s Day’.

Though initially, the US Congress rejected a proposal for Mother’s Day. In 1914, Woodrow Wilson, the 28th US President, signed a proclamation(घोषणा) that every year second Sunday in May be celebrated as Mother’s Day. Thus soon began the commercialisation of the day with companies started selling Mother’s Day greeting cards. This made Jarvis sad as she believed that her emotions are misinterpreted and also threatened to issue lawsuits against the companies. She requested people to show love and gratitude towards mother through handmade greeting cards or a hand-written letter.

In 1912, Jarvis trademarked the phrases ‘Second Sunday in May’ and ‘Mother’s Day’ and established Mother’s Day International Association. She further noted that in ‘Mother’s Day’, Mother’s should be a singular possessive and should be marked as a day to honour mother of each family and not as a plural possessive representing ‘mothers in the world’.