If you hate the commercialism of Mother’s Day, then you’re not alone — in fact, you have the ideal person in your corner.
Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother’s Day, hated it too.
The American woman who single-handedly worked to make Mother’s Day a national holiday was reportedly so disgusted to hear that a department store was having a Mother’s Day sale that she threw her lunch on the floor. Jarvis then dedicated her life to disbanding the day she spent six years campaigning Congress for.
Jarvis’ original intention was that Mother’s Day would be a day to honor the sacrifices women made for their families.
Jarvis’s own mother, Ann, was instrumental in setting up Mother’s Work Clubs across America, which originally served as a place where women were taught how to look after their children, but later served to bind communities together in a post-Civil War world. Jarvis Senior also organized a Mother’s Friendship Day post-war, to try and repair relationships between soldiers and wives on both sides of the war.
After Ann died, Jarvis was overwhelmed by the messages of support her mother received. She decided that all women needed a day in which they alone were honored for their sacrifices for family and country, because too often women went unnoticed. She believed there were too many holidays dedicated to male achievements, and not enough recognizing women.
Jarvis fought against the commercialization of Mother’s Day until the day she was admitted to a psychiatric ward.
She had been arrested, thrown out of meetings, and became the enemy of numerous charities who previously had supported her cause. She did not marry or have children, and died alone in the Marshall Square Sanitarium on November 24, 1948.
Ironically, and unbeknownst to Jarvis, her psychiatric bill had been partly paid for by a group of florists.
The first Mother’s Day was held in May 1908 in a Methodist church hall where Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday school in West Virginia, and at the Wanamaker’s department store auditorium in Philadelphia. Anna Jarvis went to the Philadelphia event, and sent 500 white carnations to decorate the West Virginia event because they were her mother’s favorite flower.
For the next six years, Jarvis campaigned to have this day for women recognized on a national level. She wrote numerous letters and instructed supporters to wear a white carnation, take their mother to church, hold a family lunch or at the very least write a letter home. Eventually, in 1914, Congress made Mother’s Day an official holiday. By that time, Jarvis was the president of the Mother’s Day International Association — but her elation at the day to honor moms finally gaining recognition was short lived.
Confectioners and department stores quickly jumped on the Mother’s Day bandwagon, selling special gifts and greeting cards. Telegraph companies encouraged people to send wires home rather than letters. Florists increased the price of white carnations, which became the emblem for Mother’s Day.
Jarvis was outraged, calling these commercial providers “charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations.”
“This is the wrong spirit” Jarvis told the Miami Daily News in a heated interview in 1924.
“Mother’s Day is a personal, family and memorial day. It’s a celebration for sons and daughters; a thanks and offering for the blessings of good homes.
“Commercialization of Mother’s Day is growing every year. Since the movement has spread to all parts of the world, many things have tried to attach themselves because of its success.
“The white carnation is the emblem of Mother’s Day because it typifies the beauty, truth and fidelity of mother-love. This emblem is used on the Mother’s Day association printed matter and official buttons. But it does not mean that people should wear a white carnation. This false idea has led to florists flagrantly boosting the price of white carnations for the Mother’s Day trade.
“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.
“Confectioners put a white ribbon on a box of candy and advance the price just because it’s Mother’s Day. There is no connection between candy and this day. It is pure commercialization.
“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.
“Make Mother’s Day is a family day of reunions, messages to the absent and the spirit of good will to all. It is a constructive movement emphasizing the home as the highest inspiration of our individual and national lives. Mother’s Day is a day of sentiment — not sentimentality; a day for everybody, but is well named Mother’s Day, for where better can sentiment start?” she said.
As Mother’s Day nears, chances are that if you’re among those who hate the commercialism of the holiday, there’s a good chance that Anna Jarvis hated it more.
This story originally appeared on News.com.au.