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A brief history of Mothers Day and why we give Mothers Day gifts and Mothers Day presents on this special day.

A brief history of Mothers Day and why we give Mothers Day gifts and Mothers Day presents on this special day.
The early celebrations of Mothering Sunday
The very earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece. In Rome the most significant Mother's Day-like festival was dedicated to the worship of Cybele, a mother goddess. Ceremonies in her honour began 250 years B.C.. This Roman celebration, known as Hilaria, lasted for three days - from March 15 to March the 18th. Some say the ceremonies in honour of Cybele were adopted by the early church to venerate the Mother of Christ, Mary. Others believe the Mother Church was substituted for mother goddess and custom began to dictate that a person visit the church of their baptism day. People would attend the mother church of their parish, laden with Mothers Day gifts and Mothers Day presents.
The beginning of mothering Sunday in England.
During the early1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday", which was celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent. "Mothering Sunday" honoured the mothers of England. As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honour 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 honouring their mothers as well as the church. 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 mother.
Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948) is credited with originating the United States Mother's Day holiday. She never married and was very close to her mother. Mrs. Jarvis was a minister's daughter who for 20 years taught Sunday school in the Andrews Methodist Church of Grafton, West Virginia. Miss Jarvis graduated from the Female Seminary in Wheeling, West Virginia, and taught in Grafton before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For Anna Jarvis, also known as "Mother Jarvis," community improvement by mothers was only a beginning. Throughout the Civil War she organized women's brigades, asking her workers to do all they could without regard for which side their men had chosen. And, in 1868, she took the initiative to heal the bitter rifts between her Confederate and Union neighbours. The younger Anna Jarvis was only twelve years old in 1878 when she listened to her mother teach a Sunday school lesson on mothers in the Bible. "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother's day," the senior Jarvis said. "There are many days for men, but none for mothers."
Anna Reese Jarvis died in the May of 1905. Still unmarried and alone with her sister, Anna missed her mother greatly. Two years after her mother's death Anna and her friends began a letter-writing campaign to gain the support of ministers and congressmen in declaring a national Mother's Day holiday. She poured out a stream of letters to men of prominence and enlisted considerable help from Philadelphia merchant John Wannamaker. She felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother enough while the mother was still alive. She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds. This became a day for giving Mothers Day gifts and Mothers Day presents.
Mothers day is now celebrated throughout the world on different dates and in many different ways. The one thing that they all have in common is the giving of gifts and presents on this special day. These gifts and presents can range from simple handmade gifts made by children to expensive pieces of handmade jewellery. The giving of Mother’s Day gifts and Mothers day presents is to show the love and affection that the children have for their Mothers,
This site www.jade-jewellery.co.uk offers a large range of handmade jewellery that will make beautiful handmade gifts. Each piece of unique handmade jewellery will make the perfect Mothers Day gifts and they all come boxed so they are ready to give as a beautiful and unique Mothers day present.

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Linda Smythe is author of this article on Mothers day gifts. Find more information about handmade gifts here.

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