Flowers for Mother’s Day – It’s a Tradition
Julia Ward, a social activist brought the idea of a Mother’s Day celebration to the US from the United Kingdom. Their idea of Mothering Day was somewhat different than our modern Mother’s Day. Julia Ward hoped the idea would united 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.”
Ann Jarvis died in 1905. Two years later, her daughter, Anna Marie Jarvis, passed out 500 white carnations, the first Mother’s Day flowers, at her mother’s church, one for each mother present. In 1908 she held a memorial to her mother in on May 10 and began a crusade to make Mother’s Day an official holiday. She achieved her goal in 1914 when Woodrow Wilson, then President, made it official.
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.
The problem with this custom was that it caused a shortage of white carnations. Florists adapted to the problem by encouraging people to wear a red carnation if their mother was living and a white carnation if their mother had passed on. Once again, the Mother’s Day flower tradition changed.
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.
Anna, and her sister Ellsinore, spent the rest of their lives, and all their money, fighting the very holiday that Anna had created. They felt the commercialization of the holiday as an abuse of the celebration. Like her mother, Anna was an activist until the end. In 1948, while in her eighties, Anna Jarvis was arrested for while protesting against the commercialization of Mother’s Day. The charge was disturbing the peace.
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.
A leading Tampa florist, A-Bow-K Florist and Gifts has been delivering beautiful flowers for Mother’s Day all across the Tampa Bay area for almost 30 years, including New Tampa, North Tampa, Lutz and Temple Terrace. Don’t forget to order early.
