Mother’s Day was created to celebrate the moms, right?
Not entirely, says University history professor Matthew Dennis.
“Mother’s Day was an instant holiday, invented by Anna Jarvis in a tribute to her own mother, and by the commercial florist industry,” Dennis, editor of the “Encyclopedia of Holidays and Celebrations: A country-by-country guide,” wrote in an e-mail.
The holiday was first observed nationwide in 1908 and became popular as Protestant denominations and Jarvis’ organization Mother’s Day International promoted it, he said.
“Still, it’s impossible to conceive of Mother’s Day as the huge, billion-dollar extravaganza it is today without the vigorous, systematic and sustained promotion of the commercial florists,” Dennis said. As evidence he cites the trade magazine “Florist’s Review.”
“For the success of the day we are to credit ourselves, the members of the trade who know a good thing when we see it and who are sufficiently progressive to push it along,” according to a 1913 article.
Dennis explains that the industry created the new holiday to produce a demand that hadn’t existed before for its products.
“And of course they covered their tracks, presenting the holiday to the public as a traditional sentimental occasion, and representing their own role as simply filling a consumer need, not generating one,” he said.
Mother’s Day set the precedent for the other “made-up holidays,” that commerce has created in the 20th century, he said.
Laurie Brooks-Headley, florist and co-owner of Eugene’s Flower Home on East 13th Avenue has heard the tales of florists inventing holidays, but doesn’t believe them.
“I hear it and I’ve seen little stories in florist’s magazines and well, wouldn’t that be great if that were true and we could,” Brooks-Headley said.
If it were really up to the florists, holidays like Valentine’s Day – the biggest day of the year for the industry – would be in the middle of July when flowers are the easiest and least expensive to get, she said.
The week leading up to Mother’s Day is the highest volume week of the year for her shop, while Valentine’s Day is their biggest single day.
“With Mother’s Day we can spread it out over a whole week. Usually we have one or two trucks delivering, but this week we’ll have four or five running around,” she said.
University students Casey Wilson and Christopher Tennis both plan to send flowers to their mothers in West Linn this week. They hope to order them on the Internet or by phone.
For students with smaller budgets, both of them agreed that the little things can be just as meaningful.
“We’re all college students here so I’d imagine most of us are on a tight budget and realistically most moms are probably just happy to hear from their kids,” Wilson said.
This is the case for English associate professor Liz Bohls, mother of a 7-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter.
“The nicest things are the little poems they write or pictures they draw,” Bohls said. “There are a lot of nice things I can go out and buy for myself so it’s the quality family time that is nice.”
Homemade gifts aren’t just a solution for elementary school kids either.
“I have a pot that I made in ceramics class to give to her,” University student Rebecca Wolfe said.
University student Ruby Sprengle also has something homemade for her mom, though it wasn’t made by her.
“I have a really cool vase for her that I found at the Lonely Pots sale at the Craft Center for $5,” Sprengle said.
Sprengle also plans to make a card rather than buy one.
Card-making is a common trend for students around this time of year, Darlene Mancuso, store merchandiser at the University Bookstore said.
“I’ve had students make their own by buying art supplies downstairs,” she said. “People are pretty creative here. They also find blank cards to put their own words in.”
This year the bookstore received 2,500-3,000 cards from different card vendors. The cards that sold the fastest were those for grandmothers, Mancuso said.
“There are a lot of gender-specific cards out there; one’s for mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers. We sold through the grandmother ones first,” she said.
And cards aren’t the only thing offered by the bookstore for students still in need of gifts.
“We choose our products by price,” Diane Wirth, sportswear buyer for the Bookstore, said.
“We keep the students in mind,” she said, which led the Bookstore to offer $15 “Oregon Mom” sweatshirts and T-shirts for the holiday.
However, not all University students are looking for just the mom specific merchandise when they do their Mother’s Day shopping.
“My mom called me and said, ‘All I really want is an Oregon decal for the car,’” University student Kenny Damon said. “I told her, ‘Thanks mom, way to stick with my budget.’”
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Mother’s Day Facts
Anna Jarvis, creator of Mother’s Day, was never married and didn’t have children of her own. She worked as a school teacher and a stenographer.
Julia Ward Howe, author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” attempted to start a Mother’s Peace Day in June during the 1870s, when mother’s all over would commit to the cause of world peace. In the 1980s Helen Caldicott tried to implement the idea to promote her anti-nuclear cause.
Coretta Scott King led a Mother’s Day March in 1968 to draw attention to the plight of poor women and their children.