If you live in North America, you can’t have missed that this past Sunday was Mother’s Day.

It was an unusual Mother’s Day, because of the pandemic – no brunches in fancy restaurants, not a lot of hugs (unless you are fortunate enough to have your kids living with you), and for those whose mothers live in long-term care homes, no physical contact at all. Here in Manitoba, people are allowed to send flowers, food and gifts, as long as the latter two are in containers that can be cleaned. These are strange times.

Not too many people know that Mother’s Day is not a Hallmark holiday, despite the fact that it is the darling of card-makers, chocolatiers and jewelers.  

It began in the 1850s in West Virginia, where the mother of Anna Jarvis, who is generally credited with the establishment of Mother’s Day as we know it today, held Mother’s Day groups to fight infant mortality – mostly caused by disease and contaminated milk. The women of these groups also tended to wounded soldiers from both sides during the Civil War. They would organise Mother’s Day picnics and other activities to support pacifist causes and work to further the cause of peace between the warring sides. 

Anna Jarvis began holding Mother’s Day observances in 1908 in honour of her own mother, who had died in 1905. The idea was that people would go home and thank their own mother for everything that she had done for them. It was not meant as a celebration of motherhood in general, and Anna Jarvis soon found herself fighting against the commercialisation of her brainchild. She died in a sanatorium in 1948, having spent her life trying to bring Mother’s Day back to its simple and loving roots. 

If, like many people, you are not a fan of our current version of Mother’s Day, consider going back to Anna Jarvis’s original concept. You don’t need to spend money on cards or overpriced gifts. You also don’t need to feel miserable if you don’t fit neatly into the Mother’s Day narrative, for whatever reason.

Consider supporting a social cause, either in your mother’s honour, or in honour of all the people who have shown you love in your life. Anna Jarvis would approve.