Where does Mother's Day come from?
17th century and industrialization
1644: First Mothering Day in England: a family feast.
1858: In America, for the first time, Mother's Day has the meaning of today: "Mother's Work Day" is intended to honor the work mothers put into raising their children.
1905 Women's rights activist Anna Jarvis starts a letter campaign to introduce Mother's Day as an official holiday. 45 American states are already committing it.
1914: President Woodrow Wilson and the US Congress declare the second Sunday in May as a national day of honor for mothers. Mother's Day greeting cards are coming into fashion.
Weimar Republic and National Socialism
1923: On May 13, 1923, Mother's Day is officially celebrated for the first time in Germany - brought to Europe by the Salvation Army, which is immediately supported by chocolate manufacturers and flower industry, which distributes free bouquets on the street. The women's movement sees in Mother's Day a "commitment to the deepest nature of true women's".
1933: The National Socialists declare the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day for the official holiday.
1942: The party leadership of the NSDAP awards on Mother's Day the "honorary cross of the German mother" to the women who had bestowed children on the "leader". The day of honor as a performance competition.
Postwar Germany
In the fifties unemployment in the Federal Republic is very high. The rubble women should therefore return more to their maternal obligations, instead of wanting to work. Subtle hints are also provided by lush flowers on Mother's Day. In the GDR, Mother's Day will be relocated to March 8th as "International Women's Day". The services of the mothers are now services to the "new socialist man".
And today?
today Mother's Day is an ideology-free and non-political part of the festival calendar. Only Germans still like to give flowers to their mum.
