Mother's Day is an American invention and was first celebrated in 1908. It is popularly believed that two women Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis were responsible in setting the tradition of Mother's Day in the United States. There are some sources that say that Juliet Calhoun Blakely started the celebrations of Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the late 1800s. It was around 1870 that Julia Ward Howe started the celebrations of Mother's Day and asked others to encourage pacifism and disarmament amongst women. It continued to be held in Boston for about ten years under her sponsorship, but died out after that. Thereafter, her sons paid tribute to her each year and also urged others to honour their mothers.
Then in 1907, Anna Jarvis organized a private Mother's Day celebration in memory of her mother, Ann Jarvis, in Grafton, West Virginia. It was also to improve health and cleanliness in the area where she lived. She then urged people to give more recognition to Mother's Day. Soon John Wanamaker, a clothing merchant from Philadelphia, supported the campaign financially. And now it is celebrated all over the world. Most people give gifts, cards, flowers, candies, chocolates, jewellery, meal in a restaurant, beauty treatment, trip to a spa or an outing to some resort to their mother, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, stepmothers and foster mothers.
Though other countries adopted the American holiday, some of them changed the date that was significant to the majority religion of that country, such as Virgin Mary day in Catholic countries. Other countries selected a date with historical significance like in Bolivia Mother’s day is celebrated on the date of a battle in which women participated.
