The Real Meaning of Mother’s Day
Posted on | May 5, 2010 | No Comments
Last night I attended a lecture by Marianne Williamson, who began by enlightening us about the origins of Mother’s Day here in America. While most of us (including myself) may have always thought that it’s just about honoring our mothers, sending them flowers and spending time with them, the truth is much more profound.
**this information is available all over the internet, so I won’t bother crediting a single source**
Julie Ward Howe, who penned the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in 1858, was immensely distraught following the carnage of the Civil War. She issued a call to all mothers, from the North and South alike, to join together and put an end to war and bloodshed so that no mother would ever again have to lose their sons to the futility of battle.
This is her Mother’s Day Proclamation from 1870 which initiated the first Mother’s Day of Peace:
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!
Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
“We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
So this Mother’s Day, give your mom flowers and tell her how much you appreciate her, but also speak with her about the origins of the holiday, and remember the message of peace Julie Ward Howe wished for us all to hear.
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