Mother's day every year presents itself with a chance to celebrate, love, and cherish a beautiful relationship. This day may look like a simple holiday but it has a history that is rich and vast. Did you know the day has its origins in political protest? Or that one of its original supporters was eventually arrested for protesting its very existence? Here are some fun facts shared to help you plan a more creative holiday this year.
Surprising Mother's Day Facts That Will Make You See The Day In A New Light
By
Samantha in
Relationships
On 29th April 2020
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#1 Celebrating the day by dining out
The average age for first-time mothers has gone up over the last decade, according to the CDC. In 2000, the average age was 24.9 years old, in 2014 it was 26.3.
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#2 Third most popular holiday
Since this famous day falls on a Sunday, so starting the day with church activities is a very famous ritual among families. In fact, Mother's Day is the third most popular holiday of the year for churches, falling just behind Christmas and Easter, according to USA Today.
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#3 Honoring Greek God
Roman history states that the ancient Greek and Roman people celebrated this day by honoring their Greek god Cybele, personifying Great Mother Earth and Goddess of fertility, and Rhea, mother of the Gods.
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#4 Mother's Day for peace
Social activist Julia Ward Howe first brought the idea of Mother's Day to the United States after the Civil War, but her idea of celebrating the day was much more different than the usual celebrations. Howe wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation and envisioned a Mother's Day for Peace, in which women would protest against war. Some groups still observe the holiday in this manner, one of the most famous being a huge crowd of women who gathered outside the Lawrence Livermore Library at the University of California in 1982 to protest nuclear weapons.
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#5 Fighting for your rights
The Mother's day celebrated now is the one started by Anna Jarvis in the early 1900s. Jarvis got Congress to recognize the holiday, founded the Mother's Day International Association and even trademarked the phrase "Mother's Day." Jarvis was inspired by her own mother, who had called for "Mothers Work Days" to improve conditions for soldiers on both sides during the Civil War.
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#6 Commercialization at its best
After working so hard to make this holiday official, Jarvis ended up despising the day because of its commercialization. She spoke out vehemently over the commercialization of Mother's Day, called for its demise, and was arrested during one of her protests in 1948.
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#7 Mother's day around the world
After Christmas and Easter, Mother's day is the third most celebrated popular holiday. Every country has its own way of celebrating the big day. The UK has Mothering Sunday, which dates back to the 16th century and is observed on the fourth Sunday after Lent; Japan has its celebration of the Empress Kojun's birthday, which has become just as commercialized as the American Mother's Day; and Spain and Portugal celebrate on December 8 by honoring both the Virgin Mary and their own moms.
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#8 Power of flower
This is one day where florists earn the most. The traditional gift is a single, simple carnation. Also interesting to note: A research study decoded why moms love getting flowers so much. The study, conducted by Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, concluded that flowers affect human behavior, making people feel more compassionate toward others and happier in general when fresh-cut blooms are around.
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#9 Millions of moms
According to the most recent info (a Pew Research survey from 2014), there are about 85 million mothers in the United States.
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#10 Most popular day for phone calls
A 2010 survey from Reuters found that Mother's Day is the most popular day for phone calls.
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#11 Most profit-earning day
In 2019, the National Retail Federation expected Americans to spend $25 billions on Mother's Day gifts that year.
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#12 Highly earned job
According to research from Salary.com, stay-at-home moms should, in theory, make $162,581 a year.
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#13 Profit profit everywhere
According to Hallmark, Mother’s Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday in the United States; about 113 million cards are exchanged each year.
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#14 Best way to celebrate the day
What is a better way to celebrate this day than dining out? In 2018, around 87 million adults went to restaurants to eat, according to the National Restaurant Association.
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#15 Different date each year
Every year mother's day is celebrated on the second Sunday of the May. That means the day is celebrated don a different date each year. This year the date falls on 10 May.
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