Sunday marks the 103rd time in American history sons, daughters, and husbands across the country celebrate the most important women in their lives.

Mother's Day means more than saying "I love you" with a box of toffee and hurriedly picked flowers. It is an homage to mothers and wives that put family first beyond their needs, from their child's birth to the day they move away.

But the time-honored holiday didn't begin with real-life mothers. It began with Cybele and Rhea, mythological goddesses honored with Greek and Roman festivals, some lasting as long as three days. Rhea was the Greek goddess of fertility; Romans considered Cybele a parent to gods, man, and beasts alike. As the Roman Empire expanded, the goddesses' legacy intertwined to give each the title of Great Mother of the Gods.

Europeans created Mother's Day - or Mothering Sunday - sometime in the 1600s. They honored the Virgin Mary on the fourth Sunday of Lent, and children would bring their own mothers flowers and handmade gifts.

Americans didn't pick up on the custom until 1870 when women's right activist Julia Ward Howe penned her Mother's Day Proclamation advocating for a Mother's Day in Boston; her plead led to an observance two years later.

Mother's Day wasn't recognized until Ann Jarvis pressured lawmakers into it, through aggressive letter-writing campaigns and speaking engagements across the east coast. Jarvis' goal wasn't simply to pay tribute to her own mother, but to countless underappreciated women across the country.

President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day a national holiday until May 8, 1914. Gifts change over time, as do the way we thank mom, but the reason for celebrating her will always remain the same.

Notable Bible Verses

"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 'Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.' Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

- Proverbs 31: 27-30

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."

- Exodus 20: 12

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

- Proverbs 22:6

"May she who gave you birth be happy."

- Proverbs 23:25

"Children, obey our parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor you father and mother' - which is the first commandment with a promise - 'that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."

- Ephesians 6: 1-3

Famous Quotes

"Children are the anchors that hold mother to life."

- Sophocles, Greek author and poet

"It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful."

- Mahatma Gandhi, pacifist and Indian civil rights leader

"La madre es nuestra providencia sobre la tierra en los primeros años de vida, nuestro apoyo más firme en los años siguientes de la niñez, y nuestra amiga más tierna y leal en los años borrascosos de la juventud."

- Severo Catalina, Spanish writer and politician

"Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love."

- Stevie Wonder, 25-time Grammy Award-winner

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?"

- Milton Berle, pioneering actor and comedian

"Madre hay solo una, no la ames en pasado o future. ámale en presente."

- Pedro Pantoja Santiago, Puerto Rican writer

"When my mother had to get dinner for eight (kids) she'd just make enough for 16 and only serve half."

- Gracie Allen, comedian and Hollywood Walk of Fame honoree