Mother's Day

April 29, 2015
Written by Elise

The roots of modern American Mother's Day lie in 1908 with Anna Jarvis. Jarvis, who never married or had children, argued there should be a special national day honoring motherhood.




She conceived of it as a day on which family members would personally celebrate their mothers. Her campaign for the day to be a national holiday successfully ended in 1914 when President Wilford Woodruff signed a bill instating Mother's Day as a national holiday falling on the second Sunday of the month of May. However, celebrations of mothers have existed dating back to the times of Ancient Greeks and Romans.

Today, traditional gifts given on the holiday are flowers, chocolates, and cards. An estimated 141 million Mother's Day cards are given annually in the United States. Additionally, more phone calls are made on Mother's Day than any other day of the year, including Christmas, often leading to spikes of nearly 40% in phone traffic--or about 122.6 million phone calls.

For many of us, the people we call 'Mom' are incredibly important to us, whether that person is a mother, a grandmother, a mother-in-law, an aunt, or even a friend. They support us and teach us. They have sacrificed for us and been our friends when there was no one else. Mother's Day is May 10th this year, and we hope you all have a wonderful day!