Where did the celebrations of Mother's Day come from?

The way of celebrating Mother's Day in Poland originates from American traditions. In 1858, teacher Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis promoted Mother's Work Days. In 1905, her daughter, who continued this work, succeeded in establishing Mother's Day as a holiday honoring mothers for their dedication, love, and attachment. This received widespread acceptance from the entire society, which ultimately led to the recognition of Mother's Day as a national holiday by the United States Congress in 1914. It fell on the second Sunday of May. Soon after, this custom spread throughout America and then to the rest of the countries of the world. The youth of the local Red Cross were very involved in organizing the celebrations of Mother's Day in America, promoting this holiday among the youth of other countries as well.

The perception of the Red Cross as the Greatest Mother in the World also comes from American traditions. An American artist combined the graphic symbol of the red cross with a Red Cross sister caring for an injured soldier on a propaganda poster, along with the caption The Greatest Mother in the World. This motif was already used in Poland in 1921 in a project by Bogdan Nowakowski. The title of the painting 'The Greatest Polish Mother - Polish Red Cross Society' emphasized both the greatness and universality of the Polish Red Cross and referred to the double meaning of the word 'mother' as both mother and homeland. In the Polish poster, the Mother - Red Cross, lovingly and devotedly surrounds both the wounded soldier and the elderly man and cradles a sleeping child. The image expresses all these qualities that constituted the essence of the mission and activities of the Red Cross.

Understanding the role of the Red Cross as a caring mother was close to Marshal Piłsudski, who expressed this in one of his statements: 'An injured and sick soldier is a military orphan. He suddenly enters, as a by-product of great war production, into a soulless, complex machine, helpless, nervous, often powerless. It takes a lot of effort to make a mother's heart work in this machine, which loves more that child, which is unhappy and in pain, and therefore useless for work, and therein lies the lofty and great task of the Red Cross in wartime...'

It is therefore no surprise that the celebrations of Mother's Day were an important element of the education of the youth of the Polish Red Cross. On one hand, it was a tribute paid to mothers for their love, care, and dedication; on the other hand, it was an education of youth in the spirit of those values shown to all who are in need.

The first ceremonies on the occasion of Mother's Day were organized by the youth of the Polish Red Cross already in the 1920s. In the materials promoting the celebrations of this holiday among the youth, there were often references to the memories and descriptions of relationships with mothers of prominent figures, including Marshal Piłsudski, Juliusz Słowacki, or American hero George Washington. During the interwar period, the May issue of the youth magazine 'Youth Action' was dedicated to mothers and contained photographs from various countries, paintings, stories, memories, poems dedicated to mothers.

In 1936, a special brochure was even developed by the Polish Red Cross containing, in addition to the history of this holiday and descriptions of celebrations in other countries, materials and guidelines for celebrating Mother's Day in Poland. The brochure was 68 pages long and included poems for recitation, songs, plays, 'living pictures', easy-to-perform comedies, and other tips on 'how to organize Mother's Day celebrations'.

Unfortunately, this beautiful tradition of celebrating and paying tribute to mothers by the youth of the Red Cross has gradually faded away. Perhaps it will be possible to renew and revive it today.