A History of Caring: The Origins of Mother’s Day

Gabrielle Fischer Posted On May 12, 2017 | Social-Emotional Learning

You’ve likely been celebrating Mother’s Day as long as you can remember, first, as a child, and then as the guest of honor – the mother. We all have our own family customs and traditions that make this day memorable, but do you know how the holiday day originally came about?

Mothers have been celebrated for thousands of years, with the earliest commemorations dating back to ancient Greek festivities honoring Rhea, the Mother of the Gods and Goddesses of Olympia. Ancient Romans also hosted days of worship devoted to Cybele, their version of the mother goddess.

More than 400 years ago, Christians in England designated a day to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. This holiday was later expanded to include all mothers and renamed Mothering Sunday. Servants were given this special day off, often taking a “mothering cake” home with them as a special sweet something to enjoy with their families. Mothering Sunday was celebrated on the 4^th Sunday of Lent.

Fast-forward several centuries and across the pond to America, where an Appalachian mother named Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis kicked off the first version of Mother’s Day – Mothers Friendship Day. Jarvis worked tirelessly to improve sanitary conditions in the U.S. after the Civil War and to unite neighbors on both sides of the issue. She hosted Mothers Friendship Circles where she taught the basics of nursing and sanitation, likely saving the lives of thousands of Americans.

Another version of Mother’s Day was inspired by Julia Ward Howe. The author of the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, Howe was devastated by the loss of life on the American Civil War and the Franco Prussian Wars. Her crusade for peace included an appeal to the mothers everywhere to rise against war and protect the children of the world. At the 1872 Woman’s Peace Congress in London, Howe presented the idea for a Mother’s Day for Peace, to take place on June 2. The holiday would be observed annually, in honor of peace, motherhood, and womanhood, for the next decade, but died out when Howe turned her attention to women’s rights.Enter Anne Marie Reeves Jarvis’ daughter, Anna. Anna took care of her mother during her older years and missed her mother after she passed. In her mother’s honor, Anna began a campaign for a national holiday honoring mothers living and dead, writing letters to ministers, businessmen, and congressmen outlining her intention. Her dreams came true on May 9, 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson officially issued a Presidential proclamation declaring the 2^nd Sunday in May to be the Mother’s Day we celebrate to this day.

Thanks to the work of these women, and many others, more than 80 countries around the world celebrate the mothers in their lives with a special day dedicated just for them. This year, we wish mothers everywhere a special day of peace, love, joy, and family!

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Learning Resources | Posted on Nov 6, 2022

7 Continents, 7 Holiday Traditions

At every moment right now, everywhere on the globe, billions of people are making their holiday preparations and plans, keeping the traditions of their culture alive. During this season of merrymaking, let’s take look at holiday customs celebrated on each of Earth’s continents – with special assistance from our Puzzle Globe and Buddy Builders!

Joyeux Noël, France!

More than 66 million people live in France, a country located on the continent of Europe. On Christmas Eve, children put their shoes out near the fireplace in the hopes that Père Noël (Santa Claus) will fill the shoes with gifts. It is no surprise with all the delicious French food that most of the holiday is centered around the Christmas Eve meal, or “Le Réveillon”. Sometimes the Christmas Eve dinner will go late into the night – maybe past midnight! Those who prep for such grand meals spend lots of time at the holiday markets – open-air shopping experiences for food pop up in major cities across France during holiday time.

Shubh Deepavali, India!

Located within the continent of Asia, India is home 1.32 billion people. Diwali is a colorful, light-filled feast for the eyes, celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists, both in India and around the world. Typically falling between mid-October and mid-November, Diwali is the triumph of good over evil or light over darkness. It is the time of year to wear new clothes, visit friends and family, and share food, gifts, and sweets, all held over the span of five days. Homes are colorfully decorated and candles are lit to celebrate the light. And what better way to bring in the light than fireworks! Amazing pyrotechnic shows captivate Indian cities during the nights of Diwali.

Happy Hanukkah, United States!

The United States, situated in the middle of the continent of North America, blends lots of cultures and traditions. Millions of Jewish people in the U.S. celebrate Hanukkah, or “Festival of Lights”. Reciting prayers, lighting a menorah with candlelight, and eating lots of traditional food stretch for eight nights during Hanukkah. Kids play games with a dreidel, a spinning top marked with letters in Hebrew. They also exchange gifts and sing songs. Traditional food for Jewish families are latkes, a type of yummy potato pancakes topped with applesauce or sour cream.

Nkwagaliza Sekukkulu, Uganda!

In Uganda, an inland country within the continent of Africa, Christmas is referred to as Sekukkulu. Held over December 24 and 25, this holiday is about food and family. Many food traditions are centered around chicken, which is often wrapped in banana leaves to steam it, giving it a special flavor this time of year. There is far less emphasis on giving gifts during Sekukkulu, rather an emphasis on sharing food and time with family and friends. However, new clothes, especially for children, are important part when stepping out to church on this holiday.

Feliz Navidad, Venezuela!

Christmas time in the country of Venezuela, located on the continent of South America, is a very joyous and religious time, lasting nearly a month! Like many families across the world, Venezuelans’ big celebration is on the night of Christmas Eve, where all go to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The center of many household decorations this time surprisingly not a Christmas tree, rather a pesebre, or nativity scene depicting the manger in Bethlehem. And in Venezuela on Christmas morning, most roads are closed off for the holiday. Many take to foot to head to church, being awoken by bells or firecrackers to signify the start of the celebration.

Merry Christmas, Australia!

Australia, both a continent and country, is located in Earth’s southern hemisphere. Grab the sunscreen because it is actually summertime in Australia during the holidays! Since Australians love to be outside, Christmas Day is typically spent at the beach, swimming or sailing. When Australians head out to sing their traditional “Carols by Candlelight”, they often change the traditional lyrics about snow and cold to fit their climate. The Aussies also celebrate Boxing Day on December 26, a day to recoup from the holiday, and to shop major sales from local retailers.

Happy New Year, Antarctica!

Antarctica, otherwise known as the South Pole (the literal polar opposite of where Santa hangs his hat), is the southern most point in the entire world. It also is the locale of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, home to nearly 200 scientific researchers. To ring in each New Year, the scientists go out in the tundra and physically adjust the marker for the Geographic South Pole, to pinpoint the Earth’s axis of rotation. Because the South Pole itself sits onto of a sheet of ice, it moves about 30 feet every year. All the world’s flags involved in the South Pole Station surround it. What a way to ring in the New Year

Sources: mentalfloss.com, aljazeera.com, history.com, thoughtco.com, thelocal.fr, kids.nationalgeographic.com, worldholidaytraditions.com, tripsavvy.com

Gabrielle Fischer | Posted on Oct 29, 2022

Fun Facts About Thanksgiving!

Once every year, American friends and family gather together to give thanks and celebrate Thanksgiving. We eat delicious foods like turkey, and biscuits, and pie, and everyone is usually feeling happy and grateful and loving.

Fun Fact #1: The very first Thanksgiving took place almost 400 years ago!

The story of Thanksgiving Day is also the story of America. You see, a long time ago, the king decided which church his people would attend in England. Some people wanted to choose for themselves and left England to find a place where they could pick their church.

After traveling around for a while, these English families got on the Mayflower boat and sailed from England to America. They were hoping to land in Virginia, but the weather was terrible, and they had to stop sailing, so they landed in Massachusetts instead.

Fun Fact #2: 101 Pilgrims came from England to America on the Mayflower!

Massachusetts can be cold in the winter when the pilgrims landed there. Their trip took 66 days, so they were also exhausted and hungry, besides being cold. Very, very hungry.

Lucky for the Pilgrims, the Native Americans had already lived in America for a long time. They knew how to grow food, hunt, and fish and shared their food with the starving Pilgrims. Without their help, the settlers would have died.

Fun Fact #3: Native Americans had lived in America for more than 12,000 years before the Pilgrims came!

The following spring, two very special Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to use fish to prepare their lands so they could grow crops like corn, pumpkins, beans, and peas. These Native Americans were called Abenaki and Tiasquantum and were part of the Samoset tribe.

The Pilgrims and the Samoset tribe were friends and decided to join to protect each other from other Native American tribes who might attack them.

Fun Fact #4: Native Americans used nicknames, too. Tiasquantum’s nickname was Squanto!

That November, the Pilgrims harvested the foods the Native Americans had taught them to grow. They had so much food that they decided to celebrate their harvest and went out to hunt for deer to eat at their feast. The Native Americans heard the Pilgrims’ guns and got worried that they would break their deal and attack them, so they sent their men to find out what was happening.

When the Native Americans learned what the Pilgrims were doing, they joined in the hunt. The Pilgrims invited them to their feast to say thank you for all that the Native Americans had taught them. All in all, 53 Pilgrims and 91 Native Americans were at the First Thanksgiving! Can you imagine having 144 people at your house for Thanksgiving? Instead of turkey, biscuits, and pie, the Pilgrims and Native Americans ate deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meat.

Fun Fact #5: The celebration lasted for three whole days! The Pilgrims must have been stuffed!

The American people celebrated the fall harvest for another 200 years until President Abraham Lincoln officially declared Thanksgiving Day in 1863. Now we celebrate Thanksgiving every year on the fourth Thursday in November.

Gabrielle Fischer | Posted on Sep 25, 2022

The How’s and Why’s of Daylight Savings Time

On Sunday, November 5, you should wake feeling slightly better rested than usual, as you’ll have gained an hour of sleep due to daylight savings time. Messing with our bedside clocks (not to mention our internal clocks) may seem strange, but there is a good reason.

Why do we change our clocks an hour back?

To understand why we move our clocks forward and back in the spring and fall, we need to understand why we have seasons in the first place. You see, the Earth does not stand perfectly straight as it rotates around the Sun. Rather, it rotates at a tilt. This means that the part of our planet that’s tilted toward the Sun has warmer, lighter days for half of the year and colder, then darker days for the other half, as the Earth makes its full, year-long rotation. Most of us live for those warm summer days when our part of the world is tilted toward the Sun. Those days – and Benjamin Franklin – are the reason for daylight savings time. Franklin was the first to publicly observe that most of the world was sleeping through those glorious, bright, warm, early morning summer hours, essentially wasting them. A British builder named William Willet was the next to push for a shift in time, to push the bright sunny summer hours from morning to evening, when people could enjoy them rather than sleep through them. Willet proposed shifting the time gradually, say 20 minutes a Sunday for four consecutive weeks. His plan was adopted first by Germany, then by Britain, who called the program Sun Time. Other countries followed suit, including the U.S., in 1918.

Tips & Tricks for getting and keeping your kids in bed

And yes, daylight savings time gives us nice, long summer hours. And yes, research indicates that it also saves energy (more time playing at the park in the evening means fewer lights on and dishwashers running) and decreases evening traffic accidents. But daylight savings time can be brutal for those of us with kids. Have you ever tried to put your kids down for the night while the Sun was still shining bright? Or to wake them up an hour early in the morning? Good luck! But there is hope. Willet had the right idea in terms of gradually introducing this change. Beginning about a week before the time changes this fall, start pushing bedtime by about 15 minutes each day (your kids are going to love this!). Then, try to keep them in bed an hour later on Saturday and until the equivalent of their regular wake-up time on Sunday. The goal is that they’ll be just tired enough by Sunday night to go to bed at their regular but now adjusted time. As always, avoid electronics, sugar, and crazy, active play in the hour before they climb into bed. Ah, daylight savings time. We relish that extra hour of sleep in the fall and loathe the loss of an hour in the spring, but, to quote Danny Zuko, “Oh, those summer nights!