One of the reasons Christianity spread through the ancient world so successfully was the flexibility with which the church adopted and re-purposed the holidays and festivals from competing religions. Today capitalism succeeds in much the same way. (Christmas being quite ironic on this point.)

Mother’s Day in America was begun by Julia Ward Howe in 1872 as an anti-war holiday. It was a time for mothers (particularly those who had lost loved ones in the Civil War) to appeal for diplomacy and peace. You probably won’t find that on a Hallmark Card.

It remained a minor holiday until a clothing company starting lobbying for wider acceptance and changed the focus away from politics. Four years later in 1914 the holiday became official.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 13th, 2007 at 2:40 pm and is filed under America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.