Hello! Welcome back to It’s Time to Celebrate! I can’t believe it but we are approaching the end of the school year! This will be my last edition of my column, and I’m really surprised by all I have been able to learn about this year. Reviewing different holidays, whether in other countries or those my friends celebrate, is a really cool way to learn about different cultures. As always, I’ll share my experience with holidays in May, as well as do a little research
For most people, May begins the back-to-back stress of figuring out what to get your parents for Mother’s and Father’s Day. Mother’s Day has a pretty interesting history in the U.S., but celebrations similar to it have actually been around for a long time. Ancient civilizations like the Greeks devoted festivals to mother gods, but a more modern Mother’s Day began in Christian Europe called “Mothering Sunday” and was during Lent, according to History.com.
Mother’s Day in the U.S. originated from women’s groups during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. Anna Jarvis was the daughter of one of the leading figures of the women’s movement and is credited as the main founder of the holiday. After collaborating with department stores to promote the idea of a day to celebrate mothers, Jarvis spent the early 1910s campaigning for the holiday to be officially recognized. President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day an official holiday in 1914, and it now falls on the second Sunday of May.
Not even 10 years later though, Jarvis started campaigning again, this time to have the holiday removed from Americans’ calendars. Soon after Mother’s Day was officially recognized, many companies capitalized on the celebrations, selling flowers, cards, and candies all devoted to the new holiday. Jarvis was disappointed with what the holiday became and ended up suing companies that tried to use “Mother’s Day” in their products while discouraging people from celebrating so materialistically.
Jarvis’s efforts did not work obviously, as today we are still buying products for Mother’s Day, my family and me included.
On top of Mother’s Day, which falls on the second Sunday of May, my mom’s birthday is on the 20th. For the past few years, this has created successive weekends where my family and I celebrate my mom, and while it is a little stressful to plan out, it has always been a lot of fun! The past few years we’ve gone out to a lot of nice places to eat, and since spring is always in full swing, we’ve been able to spend a lot of time outside as well.
Memorial Day is also of course a very significant holiday in May, not only because of what it represents, but it also usually means the coming of Summer. Memorial Day was officially recognized as a federal holiday in 1971, creating a three-day weekend. While I’m lucky to not have anyone personally to remember on this holiday, I definitely feel the importance of it growing up in an area with such a military presence.
Although Memorial Day is a pretty somber holiday, it does excitingly represent the coming of summer! While I will not be writing over the summer months, I personally think the summer is something I can recognize right now as a holiday, as it is a great break from school for all students, and is maybe the best holiday of the year!
Anyways, that’s it for me for the year! I’ve really enjoyed writing across this year and I hope you will keep up with my writing! Thanks for reading!
