Mother's Day
Next: May 9, 2027
For the one who was there first.
The story
Where it comes from
The modern Mother's Day was the work of Anna Jarvis of West Virginia, who held a memorial for her mother in 1908 and campaigned until President Wilson made the second Sunday of May a US national holiday in 1914. Jarvis later spent years fighting the commercialisation of the day she had created. The date spread widely, but not universally: the United Kingdom's Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent, Thailand marks it on Queen Sirikit's birthday (12 August), and much of the Arab world on 21 March.
How it's celebrated
Flowers (carnations were Jarvis's choice, and remain the flower in Japan, Korea and China), a card, a meal cooked by someone else. In many Asian cities it is one of the busiest restaurant days of the year. Schools often have children make cards in the week before.
Did you know
- More phone calls are made on Mother's Day in the United States than on any other day of the year.
- Anna Jarvis, who created the holiday, never had children herself.
- Over forty countries follow the second-Sunday-of-May date, including Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Australia and most of Europe outside the UK.
The greeting
Happy Mother's Day!
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