In the midst of all this consumerism, its hard to imagine that the original Mothers Day began as a peace protest. After the Civil War, the first Mothers Day was organized by women who had lost sons in the battles and was launched with what is now known as the Mothers Day Proclamation:
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 ofpeace.
Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870
Ironically, the author of this proclamation also wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic. During the war,the work that women had done with the wounded in the battlefields of Virginia had been known as the Mothers Works Days. After the war, this inspired community activists such as Anna Reeves Jarvis to hold public meetings to try to persuade men to settle their differences without bloodshed.
In 1872, Ms Howe proposed an annual Mothers Day for Peace and this was celebrated for the next thirty years.
We tend to think of women in those days as genteel ladies ... when often nothing could be further from the truth. Women spearheaded the Abolitionist movement and successfully campaigned against lynching, child labour, women's working conditions, public health services and social assistance for the poor.
But, eventually somebody also grasped the economic potential in the day and it gradually left its activist roots behind as it became one of the most popular holidays to promote consumer spending.
If you haven't already ordered the flowers or made the reservations, there are some wonderful ways to revisit the Mother's Day responsible roots by helping the animals:
- CAPS Mothers Day Flyer explains how to donate a bed for a homeless animal
- S.H.A.I.D is using the "Sponsor a Pet" option available to all rescues who use the Petfinder service. Click on the 'Sponsor Me" logo on any of their listings to make a contribution in Mom's name
- if you haven't got your own team, a donation could be made in Mom's name to one of the teams at the SPCA Alley Cat Bowl on the 9th
- if you hurry, you could bid on one of the items on ARC 's online auction
- you could get Mom a subscription to Saltscapes because the LA Animal Shelter is a 'Community Spirit Partner' for the magazine
- You could make a donation in Mom's name to any one of the great groups and shelters who help the animals, and of course .... last but not least
- you could really celebrate Mother's Day with compassion by adopting one of the wonderful rescued mother cats who are still 'waiting on the shelf' long after their kittens have all been adopted.
You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. ~Author Unknown
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