The History and Global Traditions of Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a holiday which honors mothers and is celebrated throughout the entire world. The modern form of the holiday started in the United States, where we observe it on the second Sunday in May. Many countries across the globe celebrate Mother’s Day on this same day, while others celebrate throughout the year at various times. This year’s Mother’s Day is celebrated on Sunday, May 11, 2025.

During the Middle Ages, the custom developed out of allowing people who had moved away to visit their home parish and their mothers on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent. This would become Mothering Sunday in Britain, which continues to this day. Many festivals around the world that honor mothers and mother goddesses date back to ancient times. The Phrygians (modern-day Turkey) hosted a festival for Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods; the Greeks hosted a festival for the goddess Rhea, a Titaness and Mother of the Gods; and the Romans hosted the festival of Matronalia, celebrated on March 1, which honored Juno Lucina, the goddess of childbirth and motherhood, where married women made offerings and received gifts from their husbands. And some countries continue to observe ancient festivals like these. Durga-puja, honoring the goddess Durga, remains an important festival in India; Ethiopia hosts its Antrosht celebration: held at the end of the rainy season in early fall, it includes family gatherings, traditional feasts, music, and dancing. Nepal celebrates with Mata Tirtha Aunsi, Nepalese Mother’s Day.

Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia — whose mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, organized women’s groups to promote health and friendship — founded Mother’s Day. After her mother’s death in 1905, Anna campaigned for a national day to honor mothers and their sacrifices — she began writing letters to politicians and lobbying for an official holiday. She organized the first Mother’s Day celebration on May 10, 1908, at a church in Grafton, West Virginia, where she distributed white carnations, her mother’s favorite flower. Her efforts gained traction, and by 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

Over the years the holiday changed. Although Anna orignally promoted white carnations as a tribute to all mothers, another custom developed: wearing a red or pink carnation for living mothers, and a white carnation for deceased mothers. The holiday then expanded to include grandmothers and aunts who served in roles of motherhood. Much to Anna’s frustration, what had originally started as a humble day of honor would become a day of greeting cards, gifts, and brunch. In protest of the holiday’s commercialization and seeming frivolousness, Anna spent her final years trying to abolish the modern holiday she had incidentally brought into being!