Đại Chúng số 120 - ngày 16 tháng 5 năm 2003

Lá Thư Tòa Soạn
Vườn Thơ
Thế Giới Và Bình Luận
Dấu Mốc Quan Trọng
Tin Nhỏ Cần Biết
Đại Lễ Phật Đản
Nhân Ngày Quốc Hận
Tiếng Quốc Đêm Trăng
Bệnh Sars
Thơ và Nhạc Bảo Oanh
The Mother of Mothers Day
Lịch Sử Ngày Cho Mẹ
Duyên Em
Đừng Hỏi Tại Sao
Ngày Nhân Quyền Cho VN
Đọc Báo Dùm Bạn
Y Khoa Và Khoa Học
Cơ Sở Văn Học Cỏ Thơm
Nấu Ăn Ngon Cho Người Yêu
Cô Kiều Với Phạm Quỳnh
Phan Thanh Giản
Kiếp Hoa Chìm Nổi
Mưa Bên Này Nắng Bên Kia
Giáo Sư Vũ Ký
Giáo Hội Phật Giáo Hoà Hảo

The Mother of Mothers Day

 

The memorial now known as Mothers Day was founded by Anna Jarvis in tribute to her mother, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis. The first fully organized Mothers Day program was held at the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908. The honored mother had already laid the foundation for such a day in the last fifty years of her life.

Mrs. Ann Jarvis was active in church and civic affairs. Most remarkable was the work she did to combat poor health and sanitation conditions that existed in Webster and in many other neighborhoods, and which attributed to the high mortality rate of children. At the age of twenty-six, the young housewife and mother sprang into action to combat these conditions and called on all women in Webster, Philippi, Pruntytown, Fetterman and Grafton to meet at at local churches where she organized clubs, known as Mothers Day Work Clubs. She called on her brother, Dr. James Edmund Reeves and Dr. Amos Payne of Pruntytown to advise and lecture her organizations. These two eminent physicians charted the tasks for the clubs to undertake. Members were assigned certain duties to perform in a certain length of time, and their work was inspected by the two doctors and nurses from surrounding communities. The clubs furnished women to care for families with tubercular mothers, medicine was provided for the indigent, and milk for children was inspected. The clubs were honored for successfully carrying out their plans and solving a local community problem. When an epidemic of typhoid fever and

measles broke out among the military personnel, Mrs. Jarvis and her Mothers Day Work Clubs were called upon for help. Her answer was "You shall have it. .. No mistreatment of any of our members. We are composed of both the Blue and the Gray." The clubs subsequently received the highest commendations from officers and soldiers for the magnificent services rendered the sick soldiers.

After the Civil War, public officials sought a way to alleviate post-war strife, and once more Mrs. Jarvis was called upon to help. She rallied the members of her clubs to meet at the Pruntytown Courthouse, and there they planned a "Mothers Friendship Day" to be held in Pruntytown, the county seat. The members were to invite all soldiers, Blue and Gray, and their families. An immense crowd arrived on the designated day. When the program started, Mrs. Jarvis appeared dressed in gray, and another women appeared dressed in blue. Two teenage girls assembled with the Pruntytown band on the courthouse porch, and a bugler called the crowd to assemble. Mrs. Jarvis explained the purpose of Mothers Friendship Day and asked the band to lead them in singing Way Down South in Dixie. The lady in blue then asked the band to lead her and the audience in singing The Star Spangled Banner. Cheering and laughter followed, the two young girls took the hands of Mrs. Jarvis and the lady in blue and asked them to shake hands and hug each other. They then called on the crowd to do the same thing while band played Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot. By the time the song was over, it seemed that everyone began to

weep and shake hands.

After the death of her husband, Granville E. Jarvis, in 1902, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis and her daughters, Anna and Lillie, moved to Philadelphia to live with her son, Claude. Mrs. Jarvis died there on May 9, 1905, at the age of 72. She is buried in the beautiful West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. On the day she was laid to rest, the bell of Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton was tolled seventy-two times in her honor.

It is believed that Motheroõs Day, 2nd Sunday in May. Motheroõs Day was first recognized in 1907. Ana Jarvis, who was from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May.

Six years later President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May for public observance of Motheroõs Day. It is now observed in countries all around the world, including England, France, Sweden, Denmark, India, China, and Mexico, where the celebration lasts 2 days. Carnations are the Motheroõs Day flowers: pink to be worn for a living mother and white if the mother has died. Children honor their mothers on this day with gifts, visits, and the wearing of carnations.

 

 

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