RitzyToo! April-May 2014 | Page 7

There is no doubt that a Mother’s Day tradition in the United States, regardless of who you choose to believe originated the holiday, was carried on from ages past, inspired by not only the historical predecessor celebrations over the centuries, but by the dynamic contributions women have always made toward the betterment of their families and humankind, regardless of culture norms or political persuasions of the time. bone her many Mother’s Day initiatives. And, ironically perhaps, she is most widely renowned as the author of the stirring American classic, The Battle Hymn of the Republic. However, at the end of the day she will always be revered for her Mother’s Day contributions toward Peace, in championing the beauty and importance of motherhood, and the role of women in general. Julia Howe was so horrified by the carnage A humble Appalachian homemaker and of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War mother, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis, is often that in 1870 she tried to issue a Manifesto credited with the beginnings of Mother’s for Peace at International conferences in Day through a regional event in 1858 where London and Paris. In the 1870s, Julia began she began what she called “Mothers Friend- a one-woman peace crusade and made an ship Day”. Ann Jarvis was instrumental impassioned “appeal to womanhood” to rise in saving thousands of lives by organizing up against war. Mother’s Friendship Clubs teaching women the basics of practical field nursing and sanitation which she learned from her famous physician brother James Reeves, M.D. It was throughout these ugliest of times, the Civil War, that Ann Jarvis worked tirelessly to organize women to work toward better sanitary conditions on both sides. In 1868, Ann Jarvis began working formally, in the spirit of compassion, to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors. As is so often the case throughout history, the unsung women of the time devoted themselves to the safety, health, and well being of their families. Still other historical accounts have documented that Mother’s Day was first suggested after the American Civil War by Julia Ward Howe, a remarkably passionate woman and social activist leader who was known for doting over her children and for her affection toward her husband. She was educated during the early 1800s in the classics including literature, mathematics, science, as well as French, Italian, German, Latin, and Greek languages. She was an accomplished writer, poet, playwright, essayist, travel writer, reformist, powerful orator, and arguably more than that, she was an important and compelling international leader for Peace, which was the back- PHOTO LEFT: Anna Jarvis PHOTO ABOVE: Julia Ward Howe RitzyToo.com | RitzyToo! | April-May | 7