If you can believe, Mother's Day has been a part of history since the Ancient Greeks; in a way. Rhea, the wife to the Titan, Cronos, was considered the mother of all the Greek gods and had a special festival in the spring dedicated to her; however, "the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as 'Mothering Sunday.' Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church” — the main church in the vicinity of their home — for a special service."

From the Ancient Greeks to the sixteenth century, how did we come to know Mother's Day as we do now? It all began with Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia (1861-65), who had had the desire to fulfill her mother's prayer that a day should be dedicated to all the hardworking mothers. Jarvis, a loyal and loving daughter who greatly admired her mother, never achieved what we know Mother's Day to be now, but instead her own daughter, Ann Jarvis:

"The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis. Following her mother’s 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. After gaining financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. That same day also saw thousands of people attend a Mother’s Day event at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia. "

Although Jarvis lived without a husband or child of her own, she fought strongly for "Mother's Day," 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.

In 1914, her spirit and dedication paid off when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially declaring the second Sunday of May as "Mother's Day." The origin of this holiday depicts the strength and bond between a mother and her child, but can these elements still be seen within the essence of the holiday in the year 2016? Jarvis, by the 1920s, "had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized. She outwardly denounced the transformation and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards, and candies."

Did this commercialization leak into our modern times? Think about all our other precious holidays, such as Christmas and Halloween. While we each have our own traditions within our families that make all these holidays unique, the consumerism shoved down out throats can't be ignored. Knowing all this, how will this affect your Sunday?