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| LIFE IN SOLERA | MAY 2023 | 15 Happy Mothers Day! The celebration of mothers and motherhood can be dated back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother's Day is the early Christian festival known as "Mothering Sunday." Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother's Day in the 1930s and 1940s. The origins of Mother's Day as celebrated in the United Sates date back to the 19th century. It wasn't until May 1908, when Anna Jarvis gained financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, that she organized the first official Mother's Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, WV. Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. Anna Jarvis wanted the special day to remain a day of personal celebration between mothers and families. Her version of the day involved wearing a white carnation as a badge and visiting one's mother or attending church services. It didn't take long before florists, card companies and other merchants capitalized on its popularity. Jarvis spent her last days trying to denounce the holiday because of the commercialism of Mother's Day. Info from History.com Why was the grape late for Mother's Day brunch? She got caught in a jam on the way. How did the alien boy write a Mother's Day poem for his mom? In uni-verses. Why was the cookie so happy to see his mom on Mother's Day? Because he had been a wafer so long! How do you keep a Baby Cow quiet so Mommy Cow can sleep in on Mother's Day? Use the moooooote button. What's the best dinner to make on Mother's Day? Anything you want – she's just happy that she doesn't have to make it! The earliest "Yo momma joke" was written on a tablet 3,500 years ago by a student in Ancient Babylon. "Yo momma's so fat, that when she fell, no one was laughing… but the ground was cracking up." ~ Submitted by e Solera Ghostwriters This & That

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