May 9, 2010 (Kearny, NJ) KOTW wishes everyone a Happy Mother's Day. Mother's Day history has a connection to New Jersey as President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill that made Mother's Day a national holiday.

Here is a little history taken from Wikipedia regarding Mother's Day. The interesting thing is that Mother's Day is observed around the world and each nation gives it a slightly different significance.



Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

"In its present form, Mother's Day was established by Anna Marie Jarvis, following the death of her mother Ann Jarvis on May 9, 1905, with the help of a Philadelphia merchant called John Wanamaker.[2] A small service was held in May 12, 1907 in the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Anna's mother had been teaching Sunday school.[2] But the first "official" service was in May 10, 1908 in the same church, accompanied by a larger ceremony in the Wanamaker Auditorium in the Wanamaker's store on Philadelphia.[2] She then campaigned to establish Mother's Day as a U.S. national holiday, and later as an international holiday.[1][2]

The holiday was declared officially by the state of West Virginia in 1910, and the rest of states followed quickly.[2] On May 8, 1914, the U.S. Congress passed a law designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and requesting a proclamation. On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation, declaring the first national Mother's Day,[9][10] as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.[9]

In 1934, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved a stamp commemorating the holiday.[11]

In May 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives voted twice on a resolution commemorating Mother's Day[12][13], the first one being unanimous so that all congressmen would be on record showing support for Mother's Day.

The Grafton's church, where the first celebration was held, is now the International Mother's Day Shrine and is a National Historic Landmark.[14]"

You can read more about it by clicking here