This Sunday is Mother’s Day, a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. While dates and celebrations vary around the world, Mother’s Day traditionally involves presenting moms with flowers, cards, and other gifts.
Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced 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.” 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.1
The origins of Mother’s Day as celebrated in the U.S. date back to the 19th century. In the years before the Civil War, Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children. These clubs later became a unifying force in a region of the country still divided over the Civil War. In 1868, Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.2
With the asset management industry reporting one of the lowest levels of representation among women, we are proud to report that as of December 31, 2020, 53% of our CCM team members are women, many of whom are working moms. In 2020, three of CCM’s women team members welcomed babies into a COVID-19 world. These three new additions increase the CCM mom count to twelve with a total of 26 kids. We wish all of our CCM moms and all the moms out there a relaxing and enjoyable Mother’s Day. Find out more about the women of CCM here.
1 https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mothers-day