Two years after her mother's death, Anna Jarvis and her friends began a letter-writing campaign to gain the support of influential ministers, businessmen and congressmen in declaring a national Mother's Day holiday. Jarvis felt children often neglected to appreciate their mothers enough while the mothers were still alive. She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds. The first Mother's Day observance was a church service honoring Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis, held in West Virginia, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1908. Carnations, her mother's favorite flowers, were supplied.
White carnations represent the sweetness, purity and endurance of mother love.
Red carnations, in time, became the symbol of a living mother. White ones now signify that one's mother has died. The first Mother's Day proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia in 1910.