Mother’s Day, as celebrated in the United States, was said to have been influenced by Mothering Sunday as practiced in the United Kingdom. Social activist Julia Ward Howe brought the idea over from the British in an effort to unite women against war.

A prominent social activist of the time was Ann Jarvis. She promoted the safety and health of workers. Later she actively organized women to help care for the soldiers wounded in the Civil War. Afterwards. To promote both social activism and peace, she initiated the idea of a “Mother’s Work Day.”

In 1905 Ann Jarvis died. Two years later, to honor her mother, Anna Jarvis passed out 500 white carnations at her mothers church, one for every mother in the congregation. Unknowingly, she began a long tradition of honoring mothers by giving Mother’s Day flowers. The following year she held another memorial for her mother and, on May 10th began to promote the idea of making Mother’s Day an official holiday. After several years of work, she succeeded. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the day an official holiday.

Shortly afterwards it became a popular custom on Mother’s Day to wear a white carnation. Anna chose carnations because they were her mother’s favorite flower. She selected white to symbolize the purity of a mother’s love. Carnations are still a favorite Mother’s Day flower.

This practice led to a shortage of white carnations. To solve the problem, florists encouraged an adaption of the older custom. The new custom was to wear a red carnation if one’s mother was living and a white carnation if one’s mother had passed on. The change quickly caught on.

Nine years after Mother’s Day became an official holiday, it had become extremely popular, and very commercial. Anna Jarvis was very opposed to the new commercialization. What she intended as more of a religious occasion became an event celebrated by the giving of Mother’s Day flowers, cards and gifts.

For the rest of their lives, Anna Jarvis and her sister Ellsinore fought the holiday that Anna had helped create. Anna was an activist all her life. Even when in her eighties, she fought the commercialization of the Mother’s Day. In 1948, shortly before her death, she was arrested for disturbing the peace while demonstrating against the commercialization of Mother’s Day.

The practice of using flowers in the Mother’s Day celebration continued to evolve to this day. Today there are no hard and fast customs concerning Mother’s Day flowers. Any type and color of Mother’s Day flowers is completely acceptable, as are gifts and the very popular practice of dining out to give Mom a break from the kitchen.