Teeing it up: A Round at the LINKs (Mother’s Day edition)

Happy Mother’s Day!  Today we celebrate moms and all they mean and do for us.  The history of Mother’s Day can be traced back to ancient Greece when people honored Rhea, the Mother of the Gods in the spring.  As time went by Mother’s Day evolved into a Christian holiday that celebrated Mary, the mother of Christ.  Below is the history of how we came to celebrate Moms in America.

During the 1600′s, the early Christians in England celebrated a day to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. By a religious order the holiday was later expanded in its scope to include all mothers, and named as the Mothering Sunday. Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter), “Mothering Sunday” honored the mothers of England.

During this time many of the England’s poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday, the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the “Mother Church” – the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.

With the passage of time, the practice of this fantastic tradition ceased slowly. The English colonists settled in America discontinued the tradition of Mothering Sunday because of lack of time.

In the United States, Mother’s Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was first suggested after the American Civil War by social activist Julia Ward Howe. Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) was horrified by the carnage of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War and so, in 1870, she tried to issue a manifesto for peace at international peace conferences in London and Paris (it was much like the later Mother’s Day Peace Proclamation). During the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870s, Julia began a one-woman peace crusade and made an impassioned “appeal to womanhood” to rise against war. She composed in Boston a powerful plea that same year (generally considered to be the original Mothers’ Day proclamation*) translated it into several languages and distributed it widely. In 1872, she went to London to promote an international Woman’s Peace Congress. She began promoting the idea of a “Mother’s Day for Peace” to be celebrated on June 2, honoring peace, motherhood and womanhood. In the Boston Mass, she initiated a Mothers’ Peace Day observance on the second Sunday in June, a practice that was to be established as an annual event and practiced for at least 10 years. The day was, however, mainly intended as a call to unite women against war. It was due to her efforts that in 1873, women in 18 cities in America held a Mother’s Day for Pace gathering. Howe rigorously championed the cause of official celebration of Mothers Day and declaration of official holiday on the day.

It should be well to remember that Howe’s idea was influenced by Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called “Mothers Friendship Day”. In the 1900′s, at a time when most women devoted their time solely on their family and homes, Jarvis was working to assist in the healing of the nation after the Civil War. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors. Ann was instrumental in saving thousands of lives by teaching women in her Mothers Friendship Clubs the basics of nursing and sanitation which she had learned from her famous physician brother James Reeves, M.D. In parts of the United States it was customary to plant tomatoes outdoors after Mother’s Work Days (and not before).

It was Jarvis’ daughter, Anna Jarvis, who finally succeeded in introducing Mother’s Day in the sense as we celebrate it today. Anna graduated from the Female Seminary in Wheeling and taught in Grafton for a while. Later she moved to Philadelphia with her family. Anna had spent many years looking after her ailing mother. This is why she preferred to remain a spinster. When her mother died in Philadelphia on May 9, 1905, Anna missed her greatly. So did her sister Elsinore whom she looked after as well. Anna felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother enough while the mother was still alive. Now, she intended to start a Mother’s Day, as an honoring of the mothers. The first mother’s day was observed on May 10, 1908, by a church service honoring Late Mrs. Reese Jarvis, in the Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where she spent 20 years taking Sunday school classes.

Following this, it gained a widespread popularity across the nation. The Mother’s Day International Association came into being on December 12, 1912, to promote and encourage meaningful observances of the event. Anna’s dream came true when on May 9, 1914, the Presidential proclamation declared the 2nd Sunday of May to be observed as Mother’s Day to honor the mothers.

I thought the history behind Mother’s Day was interesting.  I hope you did too.  You can read the entire history of Mother’s Day here>>

So today we honor our Mothers for all they do.  I would like to wish all moms a Happy Mother’s Day.  On to the LINKs.

Once again below are some links to some outstanding articles from conservative bloggers.  Please take a few minutes to check them out and hit their tip jars if they have them.  They work hard each day to bring you the truth and expose the lies or lack of reporting by the MSM.  So tee it up and enjoy another SENTRY JOURNAL round at the links.

A Conservative Teacher: French Presidential Election Results are Bad for Everyone

Ace of Spades: An Observation on Reporting Election Results and the AP

Adrienne’s Corner: Book “The Secret Knowledge Dismantling American Culture”

America’s Chronicle: Greek Democracy: In Shambles

American Glob: Ann Romney is a Lady

American Perspective: 85 ways to avoid running afoul of the FBI

America’s Watchtower: Elizabeth Warren is NOT a Native-American

ARRA News Service: Obama’s Gas-Powered War on Coal

Atlas Shrugs: Muslims stone woman over dress in “Moderate” Morocco

Be Sure You’re RIGHT, Then Go Ahead: Race Is Not The Issue — It’s Socialism

Blog de KingShamus: Yes, We Do Need To See Obama’s Transcripts

Bread upon the Waters: This Is “Science”?

BUNKERVILLE: Obama’s Hollywood co-host under SEC investigation

Capitol Commentary: Did President Obama’s Decision to Support Gay Marriage Constitute an Act of …

Catholibertarian: Student Suspended Over ‘Life is Wasted Without Jesus’ T-Shirt

Conservative Hideout 2.0: Former Soviet Citizen Confronts Occupods: Epic Win Ensues

Conservatives on Fire: Scary Numbers and Data

COMMON CENTS: Video: A TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS

Doug Ross@Journal: Barack Obama’s High School Drug Dealer Claims Young Barry Stole His Bong…

EYE OF POLYPHEMUS: Stargate SG-1–”Full Circle”

Hot Air: New EPA project: Cap-and-trade simulator

J O S H U A P U N D I T:  WAPO’s Romney Hit Piece Implodes..Not Even ‘Fake But Accurate

Laughing Conservative: US oil equals rest of world combined

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: Romney and our American culture

Libertarian Republican: Strong words from Paul Weston, leader of the British Freedom Party

Liberty At Stake: OK, I’m Finally Convinced

Maggie’s Notebook: A Letter From Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani

Manhattan Infidel: The Ranking of Presidents, Part II: The Cool

Mind Numbed Robot: In Honor of RSM’s “National Offend a Feminist Week”…

Moonbattery: The Nose Knows

Motorcitytimes: Shocker: Liberal Researcher Concludes Liberals Are Smarter That Conservatives

NoOneOfAnyImport: Vintage Culture

NUKE’S: Controlling the news cycle

Pirate’s Cove: More On Those Aussie “Death Threat” Emails

Political Clown Parade: My Me Is Better Than Any Not Me Ever Could Be

Politics et al: CARPE DIEM: 200 Year Supply of Oil in Green River Formation

Political Realities: Obama Supports Gay Marriage, Distracts From The Economy

Proof Positive: The Avengers – A Movie Review, of Sorts

Randy’s Roundtable: Friday Nite Funnies

Right Klik: Tragedy Strikes: Voters Reject Dick Lugar

Right Truth: Everybody Had a Mother

Rjjrdq’s America II: Radical Left Dictating National Discussion

Say Anything Blog: North Dakota’s Economic Success: It’s Not The Politicians, It’s The Oil

teresamerica: Deconstructing The ‘Forward’ Campaign Slogan and Obama’s Marxist Love Triangle

That Mr. G Guy’s Blog: Kudos for Cooper

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS: ONE OF THE BIG OBAMA LIES: “OBAMA SAVED THE AUTO INDUSTRY”

The Bitter Americans: Check Your Fetus at the Door

The Camp Of The Saints: Obama Comes Out Of The Closet

The Classic Liberal: Mitt Romney’s Prep School Pranks

The Country Thinker: It’s Dangerous When Democrats and Republicans Work Together (Crony Capitalism)

The Daley Gator: What happens when you cater to barbarians?

The Libertarian Patriot: GAO – Vast Oil Reserve In Western States

The Lonely Conservative: Being on Obama’s Enemies List Costs Businessman Hundreds of…

THE OTHER McCAIN: Corporate America Now Paying Democrats to Call Americans Racist

The Reaganite Republican: Reaganite’s Sunday Funnies

THE rightscoop: Mark Levin caller, a French conservative yearns to save his country

The TexasFred Blog: Justice Dept. plans to sue Arizona sheriff Arpaio

Theo Spark: Are you better off today?…………..from Rico

Thomas Jefferson Club Blog: Media Not Biased?

TOTUS: Congrats Graduate

Virgina Right: Gloomy Job News for Young Americans

WARD WORLD: Who Is Frank Vandersloot and Why Is he On Obama’s Enemies List?

What Would The Founders Think: You Say You Want A Revolution …

WESTERN HERO: Egalite’

WyBlog: Mitt Romney’s “Mothers Day” ad offends my favorite feminist

Zilla of the Resistance: Cruel Little Psychopaths

Two wonderful mothers. My grandma (left) and my mom (right)

Once again Happy Mother’s Day!  Thanks for all the great articles.  You guys as always are the heat.  Have a great week.

Liberty forever, freedom for all!