Mother's Day: Peace, Baby, Peace!

My husband, who is a chef, told me that Mother's Day is one of the two busiest days of the year in the hospitality industry (the other one is Valentine's Day). Not surprising, as Mom and food go together like beer and football. Nurture naturally implies food for so many of us, so we show Mom that we appreciate her by feeding her; breakfast in bed, brunch at our local "nice" restaurant, or a "fancy" dinner, lovingly prepared by the kids. (We're having lentil soup, lovingly prepared by me, though I hear there's some nice chocolate ice cream for dessert, courtesy of my daughter's fiance.)

The tradition of celebrating mothers with food reaches back at least to ancient Greece, when the Mother Goddess Gaia was honored at dawn with honey cakes, drink and spring flowers. Seventeenth century Britons celebrated Mothering Sunday on the fourth Sunday in Lent. Servants were sent home to visit their mothers for the day, bearing a "mothering cake."

Food can also become a substitute for Mom, though. Many of us eat when what we really need is the warmth of simple human contact, the joy of preparing a meal together and sharing it with family and friends, instead of settling for a bucket of greasy chicken from the local take-out place to be wolfed down in front of the television after work. The McSomething given to demanding children who are reacting to corporate ad propaganda but hungry for the real McCoy, hardly gives them nurture or teaches them the value of human contact. Mom becomes the-dispenser-of-money-in-pursuit-of-the-quickest-way-to-make-them-settle-down-and-behave. I know; I've been there myself....

Thankfully, the McFashion never became a habit in our household, and limited resources meant that a lot of fresh veggies and other basically healthy foods were consumed, though I never did get a handle on how to motivate everyone's involvement in the food prep. We did eat together, though, even if it was in front of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and often had group discussions about some of the issues presented there.

But whatever associations we may draw between Mom and food, the history of Mother's Day in North America actually had more to do with striving for peace, health and safety.

In 1858, Anna Reeves Jarvis sought to improve health and safety conditions for women workers with "Mothers Work Days." Later, she also encouraged women to help those wounded in the American Civil War, regardless of the side on which they had fought. Anna, inspired by another woman, Julia Ward Howe,* also embraced the cause of a Mother's Day for Peace, which Julia began promoting in 1870, issuing a "peace manifesto" (see the Mother's Day Proclamation below).

Anna's daughter, also named Anna, continued her mother's work. In 1907 she handed out white carnations to every mother who attended her own mother's church in West Virginia. The following year, that church started the tradition of an annual service honoring mothers.

Daughter Anna continued campaigning for the instituting of Mother's Day, and by 1909 other countries, including Canada, began observing the day. In 1914 Mother's Day was formally established as a day for honoring mothers, though the "day of peace" aspect was overlooked.

I've noticed over the years how "Peace Day" seems to keep being replaced by observances of another type and another name. Most recently, it was April 22, which has now become "Earth Day." Perhaps it's a sign that we need to make every day Peace Day....

Jessica

Mother's Day Proclamation
Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870

"Arise, then, women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
'We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.'

"From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough 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.

"Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God(dess)**.

"In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

So Mote it Be!

*Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910) presented her Peace Manifesto at an international peace conference in 1870. Through her sponsorship, eighteen cities observed Mother's Day for Peace for a period of thirty years.

**Jessica's addition