Mother’s Day is a national holiday that commemorates mothers as well as motherhood, the influence of mothers in society and maternal bonds all throughout the world. It is celebrated on various days depending on the region, but it is most commonly in the Spring season. 

While ‘Mothering Sunday’ originates from the UK and Ireland, the history behind Mother's Day is slightly different, originating from a US movement.

The American incarnation of Mother’s Day, and the most commonly celebrated one, was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 when she held a small memorial service for her own mother at St Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Her campaign to create Mother’s Day had begun in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, passed away. Her mother was a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War. Her attempt to get Mother’s Day recognized became successful as soon after, most places in America were observing the day and in 1914, it was officially made a national holiday by President Woodrow Wilson who declared Mother’s Day as a ‘public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of our country’.

Although Jarvis had promoted the wearing of a white carnation as a tribute to one’s mother, the custom developed of wearing a red or pink carnation to represent a living mother or a white carnation for a mother who was deceased. However, over the course of a few decades, the day was expanded to include others, such as aunts and grandmothers, who played mothering roles. What had originally been a day of honor for mothers, became commercialized and associated with buying expensive gifts and sending cards. Jarvis spent the last years of her life trying to abolish the holiday she had brought into being.  

In the UK we celebrate Mothering Sunday and not Mother's Day and initially, the ‘mothering’ aspect of the occasion had no connection to mothers in the way that it's celebrated today. Mothering Sunday takes place on the fourth Sunday in the festival of Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday. In 2021, retail spending on Mother's Day in the United Kingdom was estimated to have reached £1.34 billion, according to Statista.

Festivals honoring mothers and mother goddesses date to ancient times. The Phrygians held a festival for Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, as did the Greeks for the goddess Rhea. Likewise, the Romans adapted the practice to their own pantheon. Some countries have continued to observe ancient festivals; for example, Durga-puja, honoring the goddess Durga, remains an important festival in India.

Nonetheless, mothers and mother-figures are imperative. They’re likely the first people we ever know when we enter the world, and they love and nurture for us as we grow up. Although each country holds different traditions, they all recognize the imperative of commemorating women. Despite consumerism gradually overpowering authenticity, the day will forever serve as a reminder of what mothers do for us. Even though we can – and should – spoil our mothers on any day throughout the year, the denoted day gives us an excuse to express our utmost gratitude.