mother's day traces its modern start to Anna Jarvis, who organized the first formal service at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia in 1908 and pursued a national observance after her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis died in 1905.
President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1914 designating the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in the US, and Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrase "Second Sunday in May, Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis, Founder" in 1912 while creating the Mother's Day International Association.
Jarvis later protested the holiday's commercialization, arguing for handwritten letters over purchased gifts, and she organized boycotts against commercial sellers as Hallmark Cards and others began selling Mother's Day cards by the early 1920s.
Her activism included public protests and arrests in the 1920s, and she publicly opposed selling carnations and other fundraising sales tied to the holiday.
Global Dates Uses And Cultural Variants
Countries adopted or adapted Mother's Day with varied dates and meanings, often linking the day to religious or national events, as seen when Constance Adelaide Smith revived Mothering Sunday in Britain to emphasize broader motherhood traditions.
In many Arab countries Mother's Day falls on 21 March after it was introduced in Egypt by journalist Mustafa Amin and first celebrated there in 1956, while other nations selected dates tied to local history, such as Bolivia on 27 May to commemorate the 1812 Battle of La Coronilla.
States and regimes have used the day for policy aims, for example France made a holiday in 1920 for large families and enacted law on 24 May 1950 fixing the celebration generally to the last Sunday in May.
Germany adopted the US holiday in 1923 and later under the Nazi regime promoted motherhood as a national priority, instituting the Mother's Cross award in 1938 to honour mothers with multiple children.
Other national variations include Indonesia's official date on 22 December set by Presidential Decree No. 316/1953, Iran observing Mother's Day on 20 Jumada II to mark Fatimah's birthday, and China where carnations are popular and some advocates propose lilies as a traditional alternative.
The United States continues to treat the holiday as a major commercial and churchgoing occasion, with high sales of flowers and cards and substantial church attendance on the day.
