Mother's Day Peace Vigil Held in Market Square

Portsmouth area residents gathered in Market Square on Sunday to participate in a Mother's Day Peace Vigil from noon to 1 p.m.

Participants held signs and banners to greet passing motorists and pedestrians on Mother's Day as a way to give women an opportunity to oppose war. Members of the group also read the poetry of peace activist Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation for Peace, which introduced Mother's Day in 1890 as a day for women to oppose war.

The vigil was sponsored by Seacoast Peace Response, Outreach Associates of South Church, NH Peace Action, AFSC-NH, Veterans for Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against War.