Back to Holidays
Holidays
Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a holiday set aside to honor our mothers. Most all of us owe our mothers so much for all the hard work, love, and patience they showed while raising us. There is nothing quite like the love of a mother.
Traditional Gifts
Although it's great to be original and get your mother something special and different, there are always the traditional gifts. Each year the most popular Mother's Day gifts in the United States include flowers, pampering gifts like pedicures, greeting cards, jewelry, and, of course, taking your mother out to eat on Sunday. The important thing is to remember your mother.
When is it celebrated?
In the United States Mother's day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Here are some dates for recent years:
- May 13, 2012
- May 12, 2013
- May 11, 2014
- May 10, 2015
- May 8, 2016
- May 14, 2017
- May 13, 2018
- May 12, 2019
Different countries celebrate Mother's Day at different times. For example, the United Kingdom celebrates it on the fourth Sunday of Lent, Norway on the second Sunday of February, and Egypt the first day of Spring. The Philippines and Japan celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May.
The History of Mother's Day
Various forms of Mother's Day have been celebrated by different societies throughout the history of the world. The official holiday in the United States, however, began with a lady named Ann Jarvis in 1868. Ann tried to establish a Mother's Friendship Day after the Civil War. She wasn't successful during her lifetime, however her daughter Anna Marie Jarvis began to work on a Mother's Day holiday after Ann died.
In 1910 Anna Marie got the state of West Virginia to declare Mother's Day an official holiday. The rest of the nation soon followed and in 1914 it was declared a national holiday by President Woodrow Wilson.
Since then Mother's Day has become one of the most popular holidays of the year.
Fun Facts About Mother's Day
- There was a stamp commemorating the holiday in 1934.
- It is the biggest day of the year for the restaurant industry.
- Carnations are the traditional flower for Mother's Day.
- There was a Russian mother who had 69 children over the course of 27 pregnancies. Wow!
- There were over 122 million phone calls on this day in 2011.
- There are an estimated 1.7 billion mothers worldwide.
- The average age of first time moms in the United States is around 25 years old.
- Each year around $2 billion is spent in the United States on flowers.
May Holidays
May Day
Cinco de Mayo
National Teacher Day
Mothers Day
Victoria Day
Memorial Day
Back to Holidays
