On the side of our house in Marion Park, my childhood home, my dad grew red roses. I did not think much of those roses as a child except on Mother’s Day.

He would take my younger brother and me to the small garden and cut each one of us one of his homegrown beauties to wear on our Sunday outfits. He would also cut one for himself.

For my mom, there was usually a corsage waiting in the refrigerator that had come from the florist that she would wear.

For younger generations this tradition may sound unfamiliar, but years ago on Mother’s Day, people would wear a red flower if your mother was still alive and a white flower if she had passed away.

I do not know why our family stopped celebrating in this fashion.

Maybe because like many of the other holidays that have become so commercialized, wearing a simple flower just did not seem enough to honor mom.

Whatever the reason, I got curious about where the tradition of wearing a red flower or white flower originated, and of course Google had an answer for me.

Mother’s Day, which is an American holiday, officially began in 1908. Julia Ward Howe introduced the idea of setting aside one day a year to honor mothers in 1870 in an attempt to extend a mood of peace to the country following the Civil War.

Following Howe’s death, her daughter, Anna Jarvis, continued her mother’s cause by handing out carnations to mothers at church services.

Floral retailers jumped on this idea and began selling white carnations to consumers as the official Mother’s Day flower.

Jarvis did not approve of florists taking advantage of the occasion, but the retailers won the battle.

As the idea of giving flowers flourished, that is when the tradition blossomed to include white for those who had passed away and red was used for mothers still living.

Now, close to $2 billion is spent on Mother’s Day flowers, and white carnations are no longer the only flowers used to celebrate moms.

This year, my sisters-in-law and I tweaked the flower-giving notion for mom and had a beautiful floral arrangement done for her front door. I think she likes it as much as the corsages she used to wear!

Oh, and I still sometimes drive by the house on Columbia Avenue where I lived to recall my childhood memories.

I wonder if dad’s rose bush is still there!

 

Terri Frazier is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach her at terri.frazier@vicksburgpost.com. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.