The public is invited to the "Mothers and Others Peace Festival" on Saturday, May 9 from 10 am to 12 pm at the Old First Church Barn, One Monument Circle, Bennington. This local peace festival, organized by the Bennington branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and taking place the day before Mother’s Day, is one of many weekend peace events being held across the country to commemorate Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation (1870) and the original anti-war purpose of Mother’s Day.

Various organizations will host informational and activity tables that invite people of all ages to think about peace. Sample hands-on activities include creating origami cranes, peace dove buttons, and pinwheels to take home. A half-hour program starting at 10:45 includes speakers and music.

Among the participating organizations are the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Bennington, Bennington Multicultural Community Center, Bennington Free Public Library, and Bennington County Indivisible.

“The event broadens the idea of Mother’s Day as a celebration of mothers by introducing the idea of mothering,” said co-organizer Mary Ellen Munley, “because that’s something done by everyone who protects and cares for others, regardless of parental status.”

While Howe called unsuccessfully for an annual Mother’s Day for Peace in 1872, modern Mother’s Day was realized 36 years later. “The original meaning of Mother’s Day is often lost,” continued co-organizer Janet Groom, noting that Howe’s appeal for women everywhere to unite was a reaction to the carnage of war, notably the Civil War. “Howe summoned women to shape their societies through political action so ‘the great human family can live in peace.’”

“An especially meaningful part of our Bennington event,” added co-organizer Kathy Wagenknecht, “will be a call and response reading of a set of peace pledges that commit us as a community to giving peace a chance. During a time when much of the world seems poised for conflict, our peace pledge reminds us of our responsibility to resist war and look out for each other.”