What day is Mother's Day? Here's when, why we celebrate moms in May

Yahoo

05-05-2025

Time is running out to think of the perfect Mother's Day gift. Mother's Day, which is celebrated on different dates around the world, always falls on the second Sunday of May in the U.S. And if you're not paying attention to the calendar date, that's this weekend.
Here's when Mother's Day 2025 is, why the date changes each year and a quick breakdown of the origins of the holiday.
Mother's Day always falls on the second Sunday of May. This year, Mother's Day in the U.S. falls on Sunday, May 11, which is this weekend.
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According to History.com, the commercialized Mother's Day we know and celebrate in the U.S. today began in 1908, but its origins can be traced all the way back to the mid-1800s.
'The 'Mother's Day' we celebrate today has its origins in the peace-and-reconciliation campaigns of the post-Civil War era. During the 1860s, at the urging of activist Ann Reeves Jarvis, one divided West Virginia town celebrated 'Mother's Work Days' that brought together the mothers of Confederate and Union soldiers…' History.com says.
'In 1909, 45 states observed the day, and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson approved a resolution that made the second Sunday in May a holiday in honor of 'that tender, gentle army, the mothers of America.''
Father's Day is similar in nature, always landing on the third Sunday in June. Since both holidays are designated to a particular week in their respective months, the date shifts each year.
Mother's Day 2024 fell on Sunday, May 12. This year, the calendar date for Mother's Day will move up one, to Sunday, May 11.
The origin of Mother's Day, or Mothering Sunday, in the UK reaches back even further than the U.S. version of the holiday and its origins are actually tied to Easter, which is this weekend. But the commercialization that led to the modern, secular version of the holiday came later in the UK than in the U.S., in 1950, and was influenced by the U.S. Mother's Day traditions.
Mother's Day 2025 in the UK already passed, on Sunday, March 30.
'Mother's Day in the United Kingdom takes place on the fourth Sunday of Lent, a date that varies each year,' History.com says.
'The celebration originated in the Middle Ages as a religious holiday known as Mothering Sunday, when people in domestic service were allowed to return to their home, or mother, church and often visited family.'
According to TimeandDate.com, the earliest known observance of Mother's Day is Norway's version of the holiday, which always falls on the second Sunday in February. Mother's Day 2025 in Norway passed on Sunday, February 9.
More than 100 countries celebrate Mother's Day and 77 of them observe it in May, 13 observe it in March, and 14 during other months, according to TimeandDate.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Mother's Day 2025: When and what to know about the holiday