Why Carnations are the Official Mother's Day Flowers?

April 22, 2021

Have you ever wondered why Carnations are the Official Mother's Day Flowers?

Flower Lab Singapore Mother's Day Flowers illustration

The story of Mother's Day

The story begins in 1905 with Anna Jarvis standing over her mother’s grave. She and her mother were very close during Anna’s lifetime. Consumed by grief, Anna makes a solemn vow. She pledges to establish a national day to honor her mother and all mothers for the positive contributions they make to society.

Ann Reeves Jarvis

Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis was a social activist and community organizer during the American Civil War era. "Quoted from Wikipedia"

Anna’s mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, had raised her family in the mid 1800’s and had suffered great hardship. Of the 12 children she gave birth to, only four survived. The others died from diseases common at the time, including measles, typhoid and diphtheria.

But despite having endured so much loss, Anna’s mother was perseverant. In the 1850s, she began organizing coalitions of mothers from across West Virginia to combat childhood illness. The women raised money for medicines, inspected food and milk and provided nursing care for those who were sick.

The coalitions became known as the Mothers Day Work Clubs. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Jarvis insisted the clubs remain neutral. In their additional role as volunteer nurses, the mothers cared for soldiers of both the Confederate and Union armies.

Mother's Day work club members took care of all soldiers

Mother's Day work club members took care of soldiers

"Quoted from Wikipedia"

Mother's Day & Carnations

Image credit: Unsplash

Shortly after her mother’s death, Anna organized a memorial at her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia. During the service, she passed out 500 white carnations (her mother’s favorite flower) to all the mothers in attendance. With this unofficial inauguration, Anna began writing letters to national, state and local politicians to gain their support for a Mother’s Day movement.

And unbelievably, in just a little over a decade later, 46 states and many foreign countries, were holding Mother’s Day celebrations. Then in 1912, Anna began campaigning for international recognition of the day.

Finally in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made things official. He signed Proclamation 1268, which created a national Mother’s Day as A public expression of love and reverence for all mothers.

The second Sunday in May became the official day of celebration.

The carnation as an official Mother’s Day flower gained widespread fame and it was Anna's choice of flower because they were her mother’s favourite blooms. Such is the popularity of the carnation as a traditional Mother’s Day gift across the world, that it has become a symbol of motherly love.