How Mother’s Day Traditions Vary Across the Globe Including in the United States, Britain, Germany, and Austria

dToday is Mother’s Day in many countries across the world but what with a torrent of greeting cards and floral arrangements, not to mention some brunches, little thought is given to the holiday’s origins.
Established by Anna Jarvis in West Virginia in 1908, Mother’s Day is an annual holiday celebrated in the United States and many other countries on the second Sunday in May. The holiday recognizes mothers, motherhood, and maternal bonds in general and is an occasion for visits, phone calls, video calls, and elaborate gatherings.
Jarvis’ idea grew out of her mother’s activities in having organized, in 1868, a d a committee to establish what  she termed a “Mother’s Friendship Day,” the purpose of which was “to reunite families that had been divided during the Civil War.” Jarvis the Elder wanted to expand this into an annual commemoration but died because this could be realized. However, her daughter picked up the torch and carried it to fruition.
On an international basis, Mother’s Day celebrations have varied origins and traditions and some trace their roots back to 19th century Britain, where “Mothering Sunday” was celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent. It was on this day that clerics and curates were encouraged to visit their original mother churches.
The Ringstraße in Vienna
The present-day Mother’s Day in Britain, however, is an observance that traces its roots more back to the observance that takes place in the United States and Mother’s Day spread in the 1920s from England to Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Germany, and finally, Austria.
In Austria, Marianne Hanisch, who in 1902 had founded the Bund Österreichischer Frauenvereine, or Federation of Austrian Women’s Movements, is considered the initiator of Mother’s Day. She solidified her ideas by, in 1826, having the city of Vienna’s Pfadfinder, or Boy Scouts, literally “path finder,” march along the famed Ringstraße, a grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the city’s Innere Stadt, or city center, to celebrate the holiday.
In Germany, the holiday was championed by German florist shops that would promote Muttertag with signs in their windows stating, “Ehret die Mutter.” However, in 1933, once the National Socialist party under Adolf Hitler took power, the government tried to pervert Muttertag as a way of promoting the Herrenrasse, the master race, and the government encouraged not only motherhood but mothers who could produce lots of German babies.
In 1934, the third Sunday in May was declared Gedenk- und Ehrentag der deutschen Mütter, the Day of Memorial and Honor for German Mothers. At the same time, a ceremonial Mütterweihe, or Ordination of Mothers, was introduced, and, in 1939, the first ceremony for the Mutterkreuz, or Mother’s Cross of Honor, was held on Muttertag.
A Sacher Torte is a traditional Austrian cake suitable for Mother’s Day celebrations and favored by the household of the Spira family.
Meanwhile, it’s noteworthy that Jarvis specified that “Mother’s” should be spelt as  “a singular possessive, for each family to honor its own mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world.”
Finally, in 1914, Jarvis’ lobbying efforts were rewarded when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Jarvis, however, didn’t understand the Pandora’s Box she was opening up and also that, once out in the wild, it could not be put back into the box.
She hated the commercialism the holiday took on and in her later years tried – without success of course – to get the holiday abolished due to this reason. It’s also not clear if Jarvis was at all aware of how Germany was perverting the use of her beloved day, either, for that matter.
But in reality, it was because of florists and greeting card makers that her holiday spread and flourished in the first place. She just couldn’t see it.
Meanwhile, Happy Mother’s Day, Alles Liebe zum Muttertag, Gelukkige Moederdag, joyeuse fête des mères, Buona Festa della Mamma, feliz día de la madre, feliz dia das mães, 母の日おめでとう, С днем ​​матери, День Матері, and יום האם שמח.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)