Although Mother’s Day as we know it began just a century ago, the tradition of honoring mothers transcends the last 100 years and the American culture. Ancient Romans honored Cybele, the Mother Goddess, with a festival and special feast. And in Renaissance England, the fourth Sunday during Lent was known as the “Mothering Sunday.”
But the holiday that Americans, florists, and card companies rejoice in arose from a Philadelphian woman’s prayer in the early 1900s. It is believed that Anna Jarvis heard her mother pray for a day to celebrate mothers not long before she died. Anna set out to make her mother’s wish come true.
Jarvis first celebrated the holiday in 1908 with a church meeting where participants honored their mothers with carnations and handmade cards. But a national holiday was still years in the making. Anna wrote hundreds of letters to politicians pleading her case. The turning point came when she garnered the support of wealthy Philadelphian businessman John Wanamaker. She trademarked the terms “Second Sunday of May” and “Mother’s Day” in 1912. Finally, in 1913 Congress adopted a resolution that endorsed the observance, and the following year President Woodrow Wilson issued the first annual proclamation.
As the U.S. celebrates Mother’s Day 100 years after Congress’ initial resolution, CS celebrates it, too. Gracing this month’s cover is mezzo-soprano Sandra Piques Eddy (p. 24). A busy mother of three-year-old Beatrice, Eddy says that parenthood has helped her to think on her feet—an ability that has proven vital in her burgeoning international career.
Eddy also shares how another important relationship has shaped her career: her ties to her hometown of Boston where she and her family still reside. Classical singers converge on the city this month for the 10th annual Classical Singer Convention. In this issue you can read up on Boston’s music scene (p. 46) and the city’s institutions of higher vocal learning (p. 42), as well as the best sites to see while you’re in town (p. 50). You can also read more about this year’s convention in the Convention Program within the magazine (pp. 55-91).
I know women who dread Mother’s Day—some are mothers, others are not. Some feel the holiday adds more pressure to be the “perfect” mother, and to others the day is a reminder of what they don’t have.
What is it in a woman’s DNA that leads to such thoughts? Is there something attached to the X chromosome that makes us feel that we must do it all—perfectly—and that we are failures if we don’t? In Michelle Latour’s article “Can You Do It All?” (p. 38), women discuss how they counteract this pressure and maintain a healthier perspective.
Anna Jarvis persistently pursued a dream that she ultimately saw fulfilled. Her perseverance impacts us all this month, whether our children are celebrating us or we are celebrating our mothers—or both. May her story provide perspective for this holiday and more.
