ANCIENT CELEBRATIONS OF MOTHER’S DAY

Honoring mothers has such a long history that it is not surprising that it is practiced in several countries throughout the world. As we have learned from an earlier post, Mother’s Day was celebrated as a feast for the Egyptian goddess, Isis. The Romans had their own goddess, Cybele, also known as the Great Mother to glorify. The Greeks were known to celebrate mothers by way of their mother of the gods, known as Rhea.

Europe was not to be left out of the celebrations. In the beginning, Mother’s Day was about the Mother Church and early Christians took the opportunity to honor their church by offering jewels and flowers much like what happens on modern Mother’s Day. The day was celebrated during the season of Lent on the fourth Sunday and honored mothers through honoring the church.

But the English added all mothers to the honor in the 1600s and the new name that was given to it was Mothering Day. It became a day off for the workers of England when all families would have a chance to get together and feast, giving them one day of break from the fasting of Lent. It was known as mother’s holiday and children would bring gifts to their mothers on this day in the form of flowers.

Mother’s Day For The Moon Goddess

Julia Ward Howe and Anna Marie Jarvis Reeves are responsible for the current version of Mother’s Day that is being observed in our country today, but honoring mothers has an even longer history than Howe and Reeves. In ancient times, the people in Egypt used to honor mothers by way of the goddesses they worshipped. The goddess Isis, the goddess of rebirth, was one of the first to be honored for her mothering.


The goddess, Isis, gave birth to a son, Horus, the god of the sun. There are many depictions of the mother, Isis, with her son, Horus, meant to show her as a loving mother doting on her son. Because of her reputation, the goddess, Isis, was called the mother of the pharaohs because her son became a pharaoh in Egyptian belief. For this honor, the goddess Isis was celebrated with a feast each year and was the ancient equivalent of our modern day Mother’s Day celebrations.

These days people do not ordinarily arrange for feasts to celebrate their mothers. It is common, though, to take mothers to restaurants on Mother’s Day. That is a nice thing to do for your mother, but she may also enjoy a keepsake from you for her to remember the Mother’s Day that you lovingly took the time to make her feel special this Mother’s Day. You can accomplish by taking a trip to Dyani’s Creations to find a perfect gift for your unique mom.

Contact us at dyaniecholee at live.com.

Mother’s Day Becomes A National Holiday

Another mother had similar ideas to Julia Ward Howe, one of the founders of Mother’s Day. Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis believed in uniting mothers to help combat the ills of the city she lived in. For the purpose of improving the health condition of children by improving sanitation, Reeves Jarvis invented the Mothers Day Work Clubs for the churches. They were able to make a huge difference from their efforts.


Also like Julia Ward Howe, Reeves Jarvis was concerned about all mothers’ sons who fought during the Civil War. At that time she instructed the women who volunteered in her Mothers Day Work Clubs to disregard whether a wounded soldier was a member of the union army or confederate army and treat everyone the same.

After the war was over Reeves Jarvis continued her efforts to bring people of different persuasions together as Ward Howe did by organizing Mother’s Friendship Day. This day did not become the national holiday that she would have liked, so her daughter, Anna M. Jarvis, continued the fight. Reeves Jarvis died May 9, 1905 and after her mother’s death, Anna M. Jarvis was determined to make her mother’s dream come true.

Between 1907 and 1911 more and more states signed onto the idea of celebrating mothers on a national Mother’s Day. It became official in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson made every second Sunday of May as the national holiday honoring mothers everywhere. This year, Mother’s Day falls on the 105th anniversary of Anne Marie Reeves Jarvis’ death.

The history of Mother’s Day may have motivated you to do something special for your own mother this coming Mother’s Day. Taking time out to honor mothers was meant by Julia Ward Howe and Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis to be the point of Mother’s Day. The online store, Dyani’s Creations will give you the chance to do this by finding something for your mother that she will really love. It is also easy!

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The First Mother's Days

Mother’s Day has a long history in the world, but in the history of the United States, a writer named Julia Ward Howe is responsible for bringing Mother’s Day here. Julia Ward Howe wrote books of poetry, travel, autobiographies and plays. She contributed to women’s issues in the form of articles, but what made her truly famous were the words she wrote for the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” during the Civil War. As an abolitionist the Civil War was an important part of her and her husband’s lives.


Married to a man who believed that it was his duty to be in control of everything, Julia was dissatisfied with her married life. She was not the type to be happy with taking care of her home and family without being able to contribute to the literary world in a profound way. After her separation she became highly active in the women’s liberation movement.

Because of the atrocities of the Civil War that she lived through, Julia was looking forward to a peaceful world and proposed that mothers be the ones to make this idea a reality. In her Mother’s Day Proclamation of 1870, she advised the mother’s of the world to reject the idea of sending their sons to war to kill other mothers’ sons and resolve differences with others peacefully without weapons. Her idea of Mother’s Day was to be an international one, including mothers of all persuasions all over the world.

The first day set for Julia’s mother’s celebration was June 2, 1873. As long as Julia was in charge of the celebrations, they continued on. At the point where she stopped paying for them, the celebrations also stopped. Only Julia’s hometown, Boston, continued to honor the holiday after she was unable to contribute to the monetary needs of other celebrations.

How do you plan to honor your mother this Mother’s Day? One great way would be to choose a beautiful gift from Dyani’s Creations

Let us know what you think.  Visit us at dyaniecholee at live.com.

MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS MADE EASILY

Mother’s Day is coming up. For some people this can be a terrifying prospect because you have no idea what to buy for your mom. What if she doesn’t like it? There is a way that you cannot lose in gift giving on Mother’s Day.

You must remember bringing home your own masterpieces that you made at school. Your mother was always so proud of these things, wasn’t she? She would display them on the refrigerator. You can encourage this pride to rise up in your mother again.

If you’re not an artist and it doesn’t appeal to you to get your hands dirty in finger paints, don’t worry. There are beautiful pictures out there that you can use to decorate the gift you want to give. You can personalize your gift with special words or your name that will make the gift even more special. It is not necessary to be a poet or the greatest storyteller in the world. Your mother will love anything you create because it came from you.

For those of you who do not like to spend time in shopping malls, this is also an alternative for you. Creating your gifts online can keep you out of the malls the day before Mother’s Day frantically searching for a gift. Driving through a crowded parking lot to find a space and rummaging through a crowded mall full of other people who are also looking for a Mother’s Day gift, can be a thing of the past.

To find the perfect gift for your mother online that you can personalize visit Dyani’s Creations at http://www.zazzle.com/decholee*

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