The History Of Mothers' Day

The Untold History of Mother’s Day

Story by lbutterworth

Published on May 12, 2012 in Read

Photo by Cerrito Rose

Greeting card commercials and overpriced bouquets may be the hallmarks of Mother’s Day, but this American tradition was actually launched by the feminist and pacifist ideologies of two determined women.

The idea originated with activist Julia Ward Howe (you may know her as the poet who wrote the famous “Battle Hymn of the Republic”). After witnessing the destruction of the Civil War, Howe, a staunch suffragist and pacifist, wrote theMother’s Day Proclamation in 1870, calling women to come together to rally for peace. “Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience,” she wrote. “As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.”

Despite Howe’s persuasive prose, Mother’s Day didn’t take root until more than three decades later, after a long and tireless campaign led by Anna Jarvis. Jarvis grew up watching her mother, Ann Marie Jarvis, a pacifist activist, hold Mother’s Day Work Clubs on sanitation in the hopes of lowering the infant mortality rate, and Mother’s Friendship Day events to unite sparring Civil War loyalists after the war. When Ann Marie Jarvis died in May 1905, her daughter vowed to create a day of recognition. Anna’s efforts started in earnest in 1908, and in 1912, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution declaring Mother’s Day the second Sunday in May.

It didn’t take long for corporations to realize what a cash cow this new holiday was, and cardmakers, chocolatiers, and florists quickly capitalized on Mother’s Day sentiments. Anna was appalled by the corporatization of her beloved cause, and spent the rest of her life fighting it, to no avail. “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world,” Jarvis said, according to the book Women Who Made A Difference. “And candy! You take a box to Mother — and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.”

As you celebrate your mother this weekend, take to heart the origin of the holiday and pay tribute with a heartfelt gift that’s more than just lip service.

Lisa Butterworth is a writer and editor soaking up the eternal sunshine in Los Angeles. When she's not on the hunt for the latest and greatest in girl culture as the West Coast editor of BUST magazine, she's flea marketing, taco trucking, and generally raising a ruckus.

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/the-secret-history-of-mothers-day/?ref=fp_blog_title

There Is No Gravity - The World Sucks

Zippo Lighters From the Vietnam War

Story by chaps676

Published on May 19, 2011 in Read

Photo by The Selvedge Yard

So often when we think of Zippo lighters, visions of Don Draper dance in our heads. The mid-century modern era, replete with highball glasses and boomerang tables, wouldn't be the same without them. That's why it's jarring to consider the Zippo in another context: one in which it serves as a morbid reminder of the ephemeral nature of life on earth.

A lighter was one of the few possessions and connections to life back home that a soldier could carry into battle. In the uncharted jungles of Vietnam where soldiers had little understanding of the culture, language or terrain, a lighter engraved with a personal phrase or motto served as a mental touchstone to a distant but familiar life. "Many were like tattoos not worn on the body, but carried in a pocket," writes Jon Patrick of The Selvedge Yard. "It was a way for the soldiers to express who they were, and how they felt."
[Ed. note: Some of the lighters featured in the original article on The Selvage Yard contain profane language. Please click through at your own discretion.]

Photo by mEyegallery on Flickr

The deeply personal and dark phrases engraved on Vietnam-era Zippos are even more haunting today, entwining an emotional point in history with a now iconic design. For Jon Patrick, this connection between war and a fire-producing object is profound: "There is something mythical, primal and powerful about fire that has always captured a man's soul — whether it's a lighter, a campfire, or waging a war."