MOTHERS’ DAY TOMORROW

Southland Times, Issue 23502, 7 May 1938, Page 8

MOTHERS’ DAY TOMORROW

MOVEMENT BEGUN 50 YEARS AGO PROCLAIMED IN UNITED STATES Tomorrow is Mothers’ Day, when it is the duty of people in all parts of the world to acknowledge in some way their indebtedness to their mothers. Mothers’ Day is by no means a very old tradition; it was begun about 50 years ago by a young American teacher at an Ohio school, Miss Mary Towles Saseen. She died before her plan became a reality and it was left to Miss Anna Jarvis to carry on the work and to persuade United States senators to secure recognition of the day throughout the nation. It is now 24 years since Mr Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, issued a proclamation declaring that the second Sunday in May should be honoured for ever as Mothers’ Day. In New Zealand, however, the observance of the day began long before the American proclamation. The first celebration was about the beginning of this century. In England the day won gradual recognition after it had received the patronage of the United States Congress. The Young Men's Christian Association has been one of the chief sponsors of the day in the Dominion, and it is mainly through the interest of this body that Mothers’ Day is so widely recognized. In recent years most of the churches have become interested, and though official recognition is not given by all the religious denominations, nearly all give sympathy and cooperation. There is no elaborate celebration of Mothers’ Day; the celebration is between individual children and their mothers.