Mother’s Day, a Petainist holiday? It’s a little more complex than that

I hid behind for a long time the idea that Mother’s Day is a Petainist creation to hide my persistent forgetfulness of this celebration: “Finally, don’t you want to fall into this reactionary trap invented by Pétain? » I often repeated to my mother the following Monday morning, a little ashamed of having missed the opportunity.

Then I went to a diatribe against the commercial spirit of this holidayan argument that can also be brought up for Valentine’s Day and soon, I’m sure, for March 8, which in a few years will be totally absorbed by the brands that have sensed that feminism that sells.

I recently learned about it my argument has completely fallen into the water : even if he played a role in its implementation, theMarshal Pétain did not take Mother’s Day out of his kepi one fine day!

The origins of Mother’s Day

It is first in the United States that one must travel to learn more about the origin of Mother’s Day, or rather the Mother’s Day, which was created in the early 20th century by a Philadelphia teacher, Anna Jarvis, who wanted to honor her late mother.

The day has very religious foundations; the initiative is extended for a few years and the American Congress votes to establish Mother’s Day on May 8, 1914. This new celebration will take place every second Sunday in May.

At the end of the First World War, France followed suit: in Lyon, in June 1918, we celebrated for the first time on Mother’s Day. Previously, in a few towns here and there, such as Artas, a village in Isère, the prize for “High Maternal Merit” was already awarded to two women who had had nine children. Everything is fine.

Rewarding moms of large families isn’t just a nice nice gesture to say ” Good work ! “at the time it was part of a real pronatalist strategy to repopulate Francerather lagging behind other European countries.

In 1920, the French government introduced the National Day of Mothers of Large Families. Medals of the French family are even awarded (this honor is still given today to families who have raised at least four children who request it).

Celebrating mothers, well, women (it’s the same thing, you’ll understand)

It is under the occupation that Mother’s Day will take place. On May 25, 1941, a poster for the celebration of Mother’s Day, kept at the Falaise Memorial, read:

“Your mother did everything for you. The marshal asks you to thank him kindly. »

There is not ” Otherwise… “but the idea is clear enough: the kids of the time wouldn’t have cut it.

The Vichy regime did not create Mother’s Day, but drew the outlines of its current version : “For the first time it truly became a national holiday, celebrated in all schools, and accompanied by competitions in which the most prolific mothers were awarded gold, bronze and silver medals. writes historian Eric T. Jennings.

Thus was born the obligatory passage of every teacher at the end of May, their dreaded annual challenge: to have a small and ugly object made by about thirty little gifted kids with ten fingers.

The idea, under Vichy, was certainly to celebrate motherhood, but above all to celebrate a certain idea of ​​woman, the real one: the one who dedicates himself to the family, who takes care of the children. We distill the idea that a woman’s place is at home to take care of children and meals, regardless of her deep aspirations. And naturally, he does it for France, guardian of the morality of our young people, of respect and of the future of the country.

It is this spirit that we found a few days ago in a tweet from François Bayrou that smacks of incentive to pose — not because we want it, because we want children, but for the country, for France, for the competitiveness and protection of our country:

A few years after the Liberation, there was no question of giving up Mother’s Day. It was finally enshrined in law on May 24, 1950 and its date is now set for the last Sunday in May (or June 1st in case of Pentecost):

“The French Republic officially pays homage to French mothers every year during a day dedicated to the celebration of “Mother’s Day”. The Minister of Public Health and Population is responsible, with the assistance of the National Union of Family Associations, for organizing this celebration. »

Moreover it’s the same year that Father’s Day emergesbut his story is not that of a great celebration of the father figure: it is just the fruit of a brilliant publicity stunt by the lighter manufacturer Laminaire, as the story goes Western France.

In a few years all brands, from household appliances to jewelry, have taken over Mother’s Day, obviously not without the good dose of sexism that goes well:

Now you know a little more this great party of our daronnes. You’ll no doubt look a little different at the gifts you gave as a child (since they’ve still sat on the kitchen shelf all these years), or marvel at the array of stickers your offspring will proudly hand you.

And maybe you too, like me, lose your joker that allowed you to forget to buy flowers without feeling too guilty.

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