Thanks Mom!

It was just over 100 years ago when Congress established that Mother's Day be celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Today, mothers are typically honored with gifts as well as taken out to a restaurant. History, however, portrays a somewhat different scenario.

In ancient Egypt a festival was held to honor the goddess Isis who is often depicted sitting on a throne and called the Mother of the pharaohs. Two more mother goddesses, Cybele of Turkey and Rhea of Greece, were worshipped and recognized as female divinities. The Roman festival was held from March 15 to 28, and a statue of the goddess commenced the parade. It has been said that some festivals were so wild that the celebration was banned.

As Christianity developed in the 16th century, the day was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent to honor the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ. In the 17th century the day was called Mothering Day and families feasted on cakes and received bouquets of flowers.

As the English migrated to America, Mothering Day tradition ended, possibly because living conditions were made difficult due to long working days, and people resisted secular holidays, instead choosing to focus on their devotion to God. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe, the famous activist, author and poet, provided insight into today’s view of Mother’s Day when she called on mothers to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their sons killing the sons of other mothers. She had very strong views on the senseless killing in the Civil War. On May 10, 1908 the first official Mother's Day took place at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia when the daughter of Anna Reeves Jarvis, an advocate of Mother’s Day, presented every mother at the church with two carnations.

Now, just over 100 years later, Mother's Day is a $16 billion dollar industry with restaurants claiming it as their busiest day of the year! Retailers claim that except for Christmas, Mother's Day rates as the highest gift giving day while florists report their highest sales is this May holiday.

There are many ways you may wish to spend celebrating the mother in your life. You may chose to go with your mom on a hike and enjoy all the beauty Bonners Ferry has to offer or treat her to a special meal out. And there are many gift options to choose from with the fun stores we have right here in town. You may want to treat her to a day of pampering — a pedicure, massage or facial — what woman doesn’t love that?!

While the options are plentiful as to how you honor your mother, as the mother of five I know am always satisfied with, "I love you Mom.”

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