From Flowers to Cards: Exploring the Importance of Mother's Day
Written & Graphics by Alexis Loftis
Photography by Emily Baadsgaard
Modeled by Alex Wiley & Mother, Alexis Loftis & Mother, Georgia Horsch & Mother, Alayna Love & Mother, Sophia Lins & Mother
The great Edgar Allen Poe once said, “Because I feel that, in the heavens above, the angels, whispering to one another, can find, among their burning terms of love, none so devotional as that of mother.” Our mothers will always have an impact on our lives in some way. Some of the fondest memories from my childhood are of my mom doing my hair in the morning before school.
The history of Mother’s Day is long and rich. It started with the first celebration of the “Mother's Day Work Clubs,” established by activist Ann Jarvis, following the social rights campaigns of the American Civil War, which ultimately laid the foundation for future Mother’s Days to come. This Mother's Day Work Club would be where women would come together as a community and focus on issues such as childcare, unity and health, and acknowledge the power of motherhood. After Jarvis passed, her daughter Anna Jarvis sought out to create a national holiday honoring mothers. In 1914 on the second Sunday in May, Mother's Day was established to recognize mothers all around the world and honor her mother, as it falls on the date of Ann Jarvis's death. This full-circle moment of love, life, and motherhood is deeply rooted in the idea of Mother's Day.
Gifts are a common part of the holiday, and it is actually the second most popular holiday for gift-giving, following Christmas. The idea of gift-giving is even set in the original idea of Mother's Day, with Ann Jarvis intending to celebrate Mother's Day by giving thoughtful letters, presents and flowers in appreciation and admiration of your mother. This holiday is a powerful part of womanhood.
Mother-daughter relationships have been scientifically proven to be the strongest family bonds. This is due to the specific parts of the brain associated with emotions being more similar between mothers and daughters than in any other family pairing. This can also be due to shared experience bias, which is the phenomenon that parents are more likely to favor children of the same sex due to their shared experiences. Furthermore, moms are not just moms — they are women who have experienced girlhood, pregnancy, a relationship with their own mothers and life in general, just as their daughters have or will. Moms can relate to us because at one point, they were us.
This Mother’s Day, get your mom something sweet. One day, if you have kids and they get you a Mother's Day gift, you will appreciate the sweet, self-fulfilling nature of the holiday.
