Jan 03, 2022

Special Mother’s Day Service? Speaker Stand Needed!

With many churches and organizations across the country holding special services or events honoring Mothers and Motherhood, have you ever thought about the origins of Mother’s Day?

As with many of the current holidays that we celebrate, they stem from Ancient Greek and Roman traditions. This is true of Mother’s Day. The Greeks and Romans celebrated Mothers and Motherhood by holding festivals to honor the Mother Goddesses, Rhea and Cybele.

Early Christians in Europe and the United Kingdom held festivals on the fourth Sunday in Lent, known as “Mothering Sunday”, when the faithful would return to their home or “mother” church, which was the main church in the vicinity of their home for a special service. As the years passed this festival eventually faded away.

In the United States Mother’s Day started before the Civil War, in West Virginia as “Mother’s Day Work Clubs” and was meant to teach local women, how to properly care for their children.

After the Civil War there were regions of the country that were still divided over the war. An organization called “Mother’s Friendship Day” was formed, where mothers and former Union and Confederate soldiers gathered to promote reconciliation.

Mother’s Day as we know it today, started with Ann Reeves Jarvis, who conceived the notion of an official day, as a way to honor her mother and the sacrifices all mothers make for their children.

Ann Jarvis and John Wanamaker organized the first official Mother’s Day Celebration at a Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia in May 1908. Based on the success of this celebration, Ann launched a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and politicians calling for them to adopt a special day honoring motherhood.

Her dream and hard work paid off in 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother’s Day on the Second Sunday in May.

Did you know that in the early 1920’s Hallmark Cards started selling Mother’s Day Cards?

In the United States Mother’s Day remains one of the biggest spending holidays, including long-distance phone calls.

Another popular activity on Mother’s Day is going to church. Church attendance for this day is the third highest attendance after Christmas and Easter.

Many churches will have special services and speakers devoted to Mothers and Motherhood and may require additional speaker stands or portable lecterns to accommodate them.