What's Wrong With Mother's Day? I Forgot.

by Swan 25 Replies latest jw experiences

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  shadow

  Some background:

  Celebrate! Holidays In The U.S.A. Mother's Day (Second Sunday in May)

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  On the second Sunday in May, American children of all ages treat their mothers to something special. It is the one day out of the year when children, young and old, try to show in a tangible way how much they appreciate their mothers. England was one of the first countries to set aside a day to recognize mothers. In the eighteenth century when many people worked as household servants for the rich, "Mothering Sunday" was reserved for them to return home to be with their mothers. Though this custom stopped when the Industrial Revolution altered the working and living patterns of the people, one Sunday for Mothers was established as a holiday in the twentieth century. In the United States, Mother's Day did not become an official holiday until 1915. Its establishment was due largely to the perseverance and love of one daughter, Anna Jarvis. Anna's mother had provided strength and support as the family made their home in West Virginia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where her father served as a minister. As a girl, Anna had helped her mother take care of her garden, mostly filled with white carnations, her mother's favorite flower. When Mrs. Jarvis died on May 5, 1905, Anna was determined to honor her. She asked the minister at her church in West Virginia to give a sermon in her mother's memory. On the same Sunday in Philadelphia, their minister honored Mrs. Jarvis and all mothers with a special Mother's Day service. Anna Jarvis began writing to congressmen, asking them to set aside a day to honor mothers. In 1910, the governor of West Virginia proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and a year later every state celebrated it. On Mother's Day morning some American children follow the tradition of serving their mothers breakfast in bed. Other children will give their mothers gifts which they have made themselves or bought in stores. Adults give their mothers red carnations, the official Mother's Day flower. If their mothers are deceased they may bring white carnations to their grave sites. This is the busiest day of the year for American restaurants. On her special day, family members do not want Mom to cook dinner!

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  Embassy of the United States of America
  Dag Hammarskjölds Väg 31, SE-115 89 Stockholm

  Celebrate! Holidays in the U.S.A.
  U.S. Embassy | Public Affairs Section | US Mission | Commercial Service | Agricultural Service
  Consular Information | Fulbright | U.S. State Department | Defense Department
  [email protected]

  Last Modified: Thursday, 10-Feb-2000 10:44:14 CET

  How about Father's Day?

  Celebrate! Holidays In The U.S.A. Father's Day (Third Sunday in June)

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  The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special. . The origin of Father's Day is not clear. Some say that it began with a church service in West Virginia in 1908. Others say the first Father's Day ceremony was held in Vancouver, Washington. The president of the Chicago branch of the Lions' Club, Harry Meek, is said to have celebrated the first Father's Day with his organization in 1915; and the day that they chose was the third Sunday in June, the closest date to Meek's own birthday! Regardless of when the first true Father's Day occurred, the strongest promoter of the holiday was Mrs. Bruce John Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Dodd felt that she had an outstanding father. He was a veteran of the Civil War. His wife had died young, and he had raised six children without their mother. In 1909, Mrs. Dodd approached her own minister and others in Spokane about having a church service dedicated to fathers on June 5, her father's birthday. That date was too soon for her minister to prepare the service, so he spoke a few weeks later on June 19th. From then on, the state of Washington celebrated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Children made special desserts, or visited their fathers if they lived apart. States and organizations began lobbying Congress to declare an annual Father's Day. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson approved of this idea, but it was not until 1924 when President Calvin Coolidge made it a national event to "establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations." Since then, fathers had been honored and recognized by their families throughout the country on the third Sunday in June. When children can't visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental. Most greeting cards are whimsical so fathers laugh when they open them. Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad.

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  Embassy of the United States of America
  Dag Hammarskjölds Väg 31, SE-115 89 Stockholm

  Celebrate! Holidays in the U.S.A.
  U.S. Embassy | Public Affairs Section | US Mission | Commercial Service | Agricultural Service
  Consular Information | Fulbright | U.S. State Department | Defense Department
  [email protected]

  Last Modified: Thursday, 10-Feb-2000 10:44:04 CET

  Father's Day

  The idea for an official Father’s Day celebration came to a married daughter, seated in a church in Spokane, Washington, attentive to a Sunday sermon on Mother’s Day in 1910-two years after the first Mother’s Day observance in West Virginia. The daughter was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd. During the sermon, which extolled maternal sacrifices made for children, Mrs. Dodd realized that in her own family it had been her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, who had sacrificed-raising herself and five sons alone, following the early death of his wife in childbirth. For Mrs. Dodd, the hardships her father had endured on their eastern Washington farm called to mind the unsung feats of fathers everywhere. Her proposed local Father’s Day celebration received strong support from the town’s ministers and members of the Spokane YMCA. The date suggested for the festivities, June 5, Mrs. Dodd’s father’s birthdays were three weeks away-had to be moved back to the nineteenth when ministers claimed they need extra time to prepare sermons on such a new subject as Father. Newspapers across the country, already endorsing the need for a national Mother’s Day, carried stories about the unique Spokane observance. Interest in Father’s Day increased. Among the first notables to support Mrs. Dodd’s idea nationally was the orator and political leader William Jennings Bryan, who also backed Mother’s Day. Believing that fathers must not be slighted, he wrote to Mrs. Dodd, "too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the relation between parent and child." Father’s Day, however, was not so quickly accepted as Mother’s Day. Members of the all-male Congress felt that a move to proclaim the day official might be interpreted as a self-congratulatory pat on the back. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson and his family personally observed the day. And in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recommended that states, if they wished, should hold their own Father’s Day observances. He wrote to the nation’s governors that "the widespread observance of this occasion is calculated to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children, and also to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations." Many people attempted to secure official recognition for Father’s Day. One of the most notable efforts was made in 1957, by Senator Margaret Chase Smith, who wrote forcefully to Congress that "Either we honor both our parents, mother and father, or let us desist from honoring either one. But to single out just one of our two parents and omit the other is the most grievous insult imaginable." Eventually, in 1972-sixty-two years after it was proposed-Father’s Day was permanently established by President Richard Nixon. Historians seeking an ancient precedent for an official Father’s Day observance have come up with only one: The Romans, every February, honored fathers-but only those deceased. In America today, Father’s Day is the fifth-largest card-sending occasion, with about 85 million greeting cards exchanged.
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  Sentinel

  My husband thought for a very long time that I was insensitive, because I chose not to send my mom a card for Mother's Day. He usually just let it go. Then about two years ago, we were vacationing somewhere, and he saw the most beautiful card and said to me. "Let's get get this for your mother." He told me that his mother died young and that he couldn't reach out to her to thank her for being there for him. He thought we should both sign the card and send it as a gesture of love.

  Against my better judgement, we signed the card and I mailed it, so it would arrive right on time. Several days later, we received a phone call from her. She landblasted "me" for not clueing my husband in on "the rules". She said that "I knew better" and that she was ashamed of me for doing it, and remarked that it was like a slap in the face to her, to get that card on a day that drew attention to "her" and not god.

  Needless to say, since then, my husband "understands". He has joked that we still should go ahead and send her a card--just to rub it in.

  Apparently, though, my sibblings have sent her things for Mother's Day. They just make certain that it's sent way before the day, or way after. Then, she doesn't seem to be offended. Go figure. It's just strange, like so much other JW stuff, and how they rationalize it.
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  gitasatsangha

  Jehovah's Witnesses support patriarchy to the ruin of anything else. Even in their songs they downgrade feminity and motherhood, referring to women only as "A Large Army." Giving any kind of support and praise to motherhood would wreck the JW Religion which is founded upon worship of an angry, jealous, masculine god, who has set up a male dominated society to prepare for a war, after which will be ruled by a male spirit creature (Because there are no feminine female spirits) for a 1000 years, durin which time there will be no babies produced.
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  Sentinel

  Actually, the bible itself is very "male dominant". It was written by males, in a time when women were just considered possessions. And, it was translated by a group of theologians who were all male. This also came from the way society in general viewed the female all down through the ages--that is "our ages".

  Makes me wonder if perhaps there was a whole society of people that existed before the "male dominating" period of mankind. (Remember all those early photos of "man", dragging his mate by the hair?) Even, now with many more rights for women, we are still considered below the male. In many parts of the world, women are still waiting to be treated as equals. It is the male that truly dominates this society of people. Maybe in the future, that will change again, or then again, perhaps a whole different society will imerge, with equal rights to everyone. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

  If we strive for love and compassion, everyone should end up being treated equally and with respect.
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  Lord Zagato

  [quote]Actually, I think it might have something to do with possible ties to the Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which in most Latin Countries is celebrated as Mother's Day.[/quote] Uuhh, the long and short of it, no. I don't think most Latin countries celebrate Mother's Day on December 8, either, since worldwide Mother's Day is on May, so that would mean Latin countries also observe Mother's Day on May, not December.
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  ESTEE

  What's wrong with Mother's Day is that my dub daughter is not allowed to talk to meeeee....waaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!!

  <sniff>

  ESTEE