May 13, 2012

The Origins of Mother's Day

It has been 140 years since Mother's Day first came into being, yet few people know that it was originally conceived as a day for mothers to protest injustice and war. Over the years the activist observance of this holiday became squelched by its commercialization by flower and card companies who turned it into billion-dollar industry. There has been a recent movement to return Mother's Day to its original meaning.
read more:
The Original Anti-War Mother's Day
Soap to Ploughshares: How to return Mother's Day to its original meaning.
CODEPINK Observes Mother's Day With Protest
Mothers' Day Proclamation: Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870
Mother’s Day for Peace: A Dramatic Reading of Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation
Mother's Day Proclamation
Original Mother's Day a war protest
Mothers Acting Up


Three more takes on the origins of Mother's Day . . .

www.codepink4peace.org
Arise then...women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts! . . . Our sons shall not be taken from us to  unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience.

www.nationofchange.org
There’s a good number of us who question holidays like Mother’s Day in which you spend more time feeding money into a system that exploits our love for our mothers than actually celebrating them. . . .


www.allvoices.com
Mother's day in the U.S. was originally associated with two radical women activists Julia Ward Howe and Anna Maria Jarvis. Howe was well known as an abolitionist, suffragist and author . . . .





Conscientious Objectors' Day - May 15th

A conscientious objector (CO) is an “individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion.

Many conscientious objectors can find themselves in a very difficult situation, especially in times of war. One of the initial motivations for the formation of a Lutheran peace movement in the US was the need to support those resisting the draft through conscientious objection to military solutions to conflict. Lutheran Peace Fellowship has a long history of supporting conscientious objectors and traces its roots to this movement dating back to 1940.

for more information:

Conscientious objector - From Wikipedia

Youth and the Military

Soldiers of Consciencefilm on moral challenges of military service.Watch clips on Youtube

History of Conscientious Objectors' Day

St. Martin of Tours Feast Day