2011 “Mother’s Day” 2nd Time Celebration, Journal

The Saturday before the Mother’s Day, Hiroko was busy helping children to make two Mother’s Day presents at Church, so one week later another celebration was held at the Japanese gourmet restaurant.

The front of “Sun Shine” Japanese Cuisine Restaurant
Hiroko posted the “Maneki Neko” (inviting cats) in the show window of this restaurant May 2010.



Dan-san, Hiroko’s nephew Steven/Amanda, daughters, Elsa and Lisa/Dave came to this dinner.
The beautiful flower on the table from Amanda, and cheered “kampai” with the wine brought by Steven.
Lisa/Dave gave Hiroko couple of the delicious cheese dips from the Farmer’s Market, butter to remember Hokkaido, and oregano plant. Hiroko loves any cheese dips, so she was eating cheese dip spreading on celery, carrot and cracker for her lunch while she was working at the MMIS, so her cholesterol went up to 275. Dr. asked Hiroko quit eating whatever she was eating. Hiroko has to control herself to eat cheese dips.

Appetizers


Squid leg calamari, gyoza and croquettes
Dave wanted to compare with his homemade croquettes to Sun Shine’s one. Of course his home made one was far delicious than this, because in his croquettes lots of butter and cheese, and ham were in.

Dinner dishes


Saba-no-Shioyaki (broiled mackerels with salt) and Una-don (eel on the rice)
Sukiyaki and Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) dinner
Oishikatta (delicious)! Gochisosama (Thank You for the foods)!
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Mother’s Day History
From the Google, searching the origin of the “Mother’s Day” there are many sites are available. Hiroko likes the web-site called www.mothersdaycentral The main idea from the site will be written below. Please go to the site to further informations, and it is interesting to read other sites’ different views of the Mother’s Day.

Spiritual Origin of Mother’s Day
The traditional practice of honoring of Motherhood is rooted in antiquity, and past rites typically had strong symbolic and spiritual overtones; societies tended to celebrate Goddesses. The personal, human touch to Mother’s Day is a relatively new. The material objects from adoration ranged from mythological female deities to the Christian Church itself.
oEarly Egyptian Roots - Goddess Isis
oAncient Roman Celebration – Phrygian goddess Cybele
oGreek – Rhea, the Greek mother of the Gods
oEuropean Celebration – Celebrating Lent and Mother Church

Family Gatherings with human Mom
In the 1600’s in England broadened the celebration to include real Mothers, referring to the day of Mothering Day. During this Lenten Sunday, servants and trade workers were allowed to travel back to their towns of origin to visit the families. Families across England could enjoy a family feast --- Mother was the guest of honor.

History of American Celebration
The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on Mother’s to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mother.
The Rise & Fall of Howe’s Mother’s Day
In 1873 women’s group in 18 North American cities observed this new Mother’s holiday. Howe initially funded many of these celebrations, but most of them died out once she stopped footing the bill. The city of Boston, however would continue celebrating Howe’s holiday for 10 more years.
Despite the decided failure of her holiday, Howe had nevertheless planted the seed that would blossom into what we know as Mother’s Day today. A West Virginia women’s group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday. In order to re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War, the group held a Mother’s Friendship Day.
Anna M. Jarvis’s Mother’s Day in 1908
After Anna Reeves Javis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. In 1908, Anna petitioned the superintendent of the church where her Mother had spent over 20 years teaching Sunday School. Her request was honored, and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother’s Day celebration took place at Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The West Virginia event drew a congregation of 407 and Anna Jarvis arranged for white carnation --- her Mother’s favorite flower --- to adorn the patrons. Two carnations were given to every Mother in attendance.

US Government Adoption
Anna Jarvis quit working and devoted herself full time to the creation of Mother’s Day, endlessly petitioning state governments, business leaders, women groups, churches and other institutions and organizations. In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to officially recognize Mother’s Day and in 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance, declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

The Fight Over Commercialization
The commercialization of Mother’s Day greatly disturbed Jarvis, so she opposed what she perceived as a misuse of the holiday. In 1923 she sued to stop a Mother’s Day event, and in the 1930’s she was arrested for disturbing the peace at the American War Mothers group. She was protesting their sale of flowers. Despite her efforts, flower sales on Mother’s Day continued to grow. Florist’s Review wrote, “Miss Jarvis was completely squelched.”

Anna Jarvis died in 1948, blind, poor and childless. Jarvis would never know that it was, ironically, the Florist’s Exchange had anonymously paid for her care.