CHARLESTON, W.VA. – Holidays are celebrated in earnest in West Virginia, especially if the holiday began in the state – like Mother’s Day.
In the early 1900s, West Virginia native Anna Jarvis began her mission to fulfill a childhood ambition to honor her mother, and all others, through a special public commemoration.
On the one-year anniversary of her mother’s passing in 1906, Anna organized a memorial service to recognize mothers at her Grafton church, Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1908, Anna’s tireless efforts to have a national observation began to blossom when dual Mother’s Day memorial services were held in Grafton and Philadelphia, the city where she had moved.
The adoption of Mother’s Day then spread rapidly. In 1909, forty-five states, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico observed the day. West Virginia Governor William E. Glasscock issued the first Mother’s Day proclamation on April 26, 1910. In May 1914, a joint resolution was introduced in the U.S. Congress and at the request of Miss Jarvis, named the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. President Woodrow Wilson approved it.
Of near-equal significance, Dr. Robert Webb conducted what is believed to be the first Father’s Day service at the Central Church of Fairmont at the request of Grace Clayton on July 5, 1908. Though neither West Virginia resident is credited with sparking the national movement that led to Father’s Day, no one disputes they were the first to hold such memorial.
Another holiday celebrated in West Virginia is actually centuries old and not born of this country. In the small town of Helvetia, a tradition passed down from the Swiss immigrants who settled the town in 1869 is Fasnacht (“fast night”). Every Saturday before Ash Wednesday, residents prepare to say goodbye to winter. The celebration begins with the cooking of pastries that include doughnuts deep-fried in lard, something that’s forbidden during Lent. After filling up on the sweet delicacies, residents don homemade costumes and parade with paper lanterns to the local community hall where they dance and drink beer while a seven-foot effigy of Old Man Winter hangs from the ceiling. The highlight of the festival comes at midnight when Old Man Winter, the effigy made of newspapers, old clothes and firecrackers, is cut down, dragged into the snow, beaten and thrown into a bonfire as the crowd celebrates the end of winter.
Much of Wheeling is lit up every winter but in a much more appealing way than Old Man Winter’s fate in Helvetia.
The Winter Festival of Lights/City of Light celebration begins every Nov. 1 with displays and landscape lighting that covers more than three hundred acres across a six-mile drive throughout Oglebay Resort and Conference Center. Since the first Festival, the show has grown into the nation's largest light show that now includes downtown Wheeling which features dozens of homes, shops and business establishments ablaze in lights. The Winter Festival of Lights/City of Lights has earned a permanent spot on the American Bus Association's Top International Events. Every year, news displays are added as some are retired.
Ethnic diversity is celebrated with multi-cultural festivals in Parkersburg and Charleston; Celtic and St. Patrick’s Day events are held throughout the state in March; and the annual three-day Italian Heritage Festival in Clarksburg has been recognized as a top event by several national travel organizations.
More information is available by calling Division of Tourism’s toll-free hotline, 1-800-CALL WVA. Callers also can request a free travel guide, calendar of events and other information through the number or the Division’s web site, www.callwva.com.
