Break from the Grind May 8, 2012
TRIVIAL PURSUITS: What about Mother’s Day celebrations did Anna Jarvis try to stop?
Though Anna Jarvis devoted her life for the establishment of a national Mother’s Day, in the end she was disappointed at the way thing turned out.
Reported by PS
Anna had hoped for a day of reflection and quiet prayer by families, thanking God for all that mothers had done. She hated the commercialization of the day.
She filed a lawsuit in 1923 against the governor of New York and the mayor of New York City to stop a planned festival. The particular cause of her outrage at New York City was that the prices of carnations (her mother’s favorite flower) had been inflated.
It is reported that a New York court threw out the lawsuit, but Anna Jarvis continued her protest and was arrested for disturbance of the peace.