Shrine in W. Va. marks 100 years of Mother's Days
GRAFTON, W. Va. - The woman credited with creating one of the world's most celebrated holidays probably wouldn't have been pleased with all the flowers, candy, or gifts that were presented yesterday, the 100th anniversary of Mother's Day.
Anna Jarvis favored giving mothers a white carnation, which she felt signified the purity of a mother's love. Jarvis, who never married and did not have children, got the Mother's Day idea after her mother said it would be nice if someone created an observance for mothers.
Three years after her mother died in 1905, Jarvis organized the first official Mother's Day service at a Grafton church where her mother had spent more than 20 years teaching Sunday school. The former Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church is the official shrine to mothers around the world.
Yesterday, the International Mother's Day Shrine marked the centennial of the holiday with a special service, at which each mother in attendance was given a white carnation.
The shrine also serves as a "reminder to the accomplishments of these women and to the issues mothers still deal with today, trying to do the balancing act of being everything to everyone," said Cindi Mason, the shrine's director.
According to the US Census Bureau, there are 83 million mothers in the United States. More mothers now work out of the home, and the number of single-mother households has tripled to more than 10 million since 1970.
West Virginia became the first state to recognize Mother's Day in 1910. President Woodrow Wilson approved a resolution in 1914 marking the second Sunday in May a nationwide observance.
Mother's Day is celebrated in 52 countries because "everyone has a mother," said Sally Thayer, a trustee of the Mother's Day shrine. "It's a wonderful thing to celebrate."
Jarvis's devotion to and her fierce defense of Mother's Day could be tied to the feeling that "a certain era was passing and mothers like her mother were becoming fewer," said Laura Prieto, an associate professor of history and women's studies at Simmons College in Boston.
Jarvis's mother, Ann, was a community activist who worked to heal the divisions in north-central West Virginia after the Civil War, and to promote improved sanitation by creating Mothers Friendship Clubs.
