We know that Mother’s Day is all about celebrating mom. . .
with a bonanza of crap she doesn’t need! But when it got its start over 100 years ago, that wasn’t the goal. The idea for Mother’s Day came from activist Julia Ward Howe in 1870.
Celebrate your mom!
According to Wikipedia, she “had been urging for the creation of a Mother’s Day dedicated to peace.” She was later joined by Anna Jarvis who wanted to honor her own mother along with the many mothers who have done “more for you than anyone in the world.”
Lots of states were already observing the holiday before Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation in 1914 officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. It’s noted that Anna Jarvis was unhappy about the commercialization of the day, and she died in 1948 BEFORE Mother’s Day socks, scented bath soap, dish towels, candles, wine stoppers, cutting boards, engraved rocks (true), or rose nightlights came on the market. Her Mother’s Day got out of control! It’s a little puzzling why mom needs all this stuff. (And yes, you can even get a Mother’s Day PUZZLE!)
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Aside from Mother’s Day, there are lesser-known days you can celebrate: from the weird National Hollerin’ Contest Day (June 20), for which I think the 5-year-old on my recent flight was practicing, to others like National Pothole Month (March), National Split Pea Soup week (this year it’s November 14-20), and Stay Out of the Sun Day (July 3). You can’t swing a scented candle without hitting a day/week/month that has some sort of celebration attached to it.
I’m guessing the creators of these weirdo holidays are hoping the holiday catches on and they make lots of cash. This inadvertently worked with Mother’s Day. . . not so much with ones like National Publicity Stunt Week (April 1-7); it came and went fast, sort of like, well, a publicity stunt!
If YOU want to jump on the celebration bandwagon, then there is a way for your company or organization to make up a new holiday (or you can at least try).
You’ll need an act of Congress or the president’s approval to get your day officially recognized, so considering that could take a LONG time, you may want to just get it on an official calendar. Go to the NationalDayCalendar.com and register your day. They get thousands of submissions a year, and they have a special committee that reviews all of the applicants to decide which ones are included in their calendar. If it’s approved, nobody gets the day off on your day. . . but you can promote it, and have something to point to and say, “That’s my day!” There’s stiff competition to get approved, so make your pitch count!
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But the real question is: do you need official recognition and a pair of socks or an engraved rock to celebrate something? Probably not. If this past year has taught us ANYTHING, it’s that we need to celebrate EVERYTHING, and do it often. Traveling, staying at home (because we want to, not have to), seeing friends and family smile with no masks, and yes, even going back into the office are all cause for celebration. I hope you are, as I am, looking forward to a lifetime of celebrations that have no name, don’t need a committee to put them on the calendar, and can’t be commemorated with a puzzle.
Now THOSE are billion dollar celebrations!
Check out Jan’s Keynotes:
#mothersday #celebratemom #humorarticle #humorkeynote
