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When is Mother's Day?
In the United States, Mother's Day always falls on the second Sunday of May — the date set by President Woodrow Wilson's 1914 proclamation. The UK and Ireland observe a separate, older holiday called Mothering Sunday on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
How the date is determined
The US date follows a single rule: the second Sunday of May. There is no astronomical or religious calculation — it's a fixed weekday rule fixed by federal proclamation. That puts the date in a 7-day window from May 8 through May 14.
To find any future US Mother's Day: find the first Sunday on or after May 1, then add 7 days. For 2027, May 1 is a Saturday, so the first Sunday is May 2 and Mother's Day is May 9.
Upcoming Mother's Day dates (US)
Mother's Day 2026 fell on May 10 (already past as of today). The next several occurrences:
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | May 9 | Sunday |
| 2028 | May 14 | Sunday |
| 2029 | May 13 | Sunday |
| 2030 | May 12 | Sunday |
| 2031 | May 11 | Sunday |
Origin of the US holiday
The modern US Mother's Day was founded by Anna Jarvis, a Methodist activist from Grafton, West Virginia. After her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis died in 1905, Anna organized a memorial service on May 10, 1908, at St. Andrew's Methodist Church — the church where her mother had taught Sunday school. Jarvis distributed 500 white carnations (her mother's favorite flower) to attendees.
Over the next six years Jarvis ran a relentless letter-writing campaign, securing state-level proclamations in West Virginia (1910) and other states. On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint Congressional resolution designating the second Sunday of May as Mother's Day, "as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."
Anna Jarvis's mother had herself been an activist — she organized "Mothers' Day Work Clubs" in the 1860s to improve sanitary conditions, and after the US Civil War held "Mothers' Friendship Day" picnics aimed at reconciling Union and Confederate veterans.
US Mother's Day vs UK Mothering Sunday
The British and Irish "Mothering Sunday" is a completely separate, much older holiday:
- Date rule: the fourth Sunday of Lent (three weeks before Easter Sunday). Because Lent is movable, Mothering Sunday lands somewhere between early March and early April.
- Origin: a 16th-century Christian observance. Servants and apprentices were given the day off to return to their "mother church" (the cathedral or parish where they were baptized) and visit their families on the way.
- Modern blending: the secular American-style focus on mothers became dominant in the UK during the 20th century, but the date kept its Lenten anchor.
The result: people in the US and UK assume they're celebrating the same holiday on different days, but they're actually observing two different traditions that converged in modern practice.
Anna Jarvis and the fight against commercialization
Within a few years of its 1914 establishment, Jarvis turned against the holiday she had created. She objected to floral companies hiking prices, greeting-card publishers profiting off the day, and confectioners marketing "Mother's Day boxes." She founded the Mother's Day International Association to control how the day was observed and pushed for the apostrophe to fall before the "s" (a singular possessive — "each family's own mother") rather than after.
Jarvis was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace at a American War Mothers convention selling Mother's Day carnations. She died later that year in Marshall Square Sanitarium in West Chester, Pennsylvania, reportedly with her medical care paid for anonymously by the floral industry — an irony that became part of the holiday's lore.
Sources & references
- US Library of Congress — Today in History, May 9 — the date of President Wilson's 1914 proclamation.
- US National Archives — Mother's Day — original text of the 1914 joint resolution.
- West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History — Anna Jarvis biography and Grafton commemoration.
FAQs
In the United States, Mother's Day always falls on the second Sunday of May. The date moves with the calendar but never falls outside the May 8–14 window. President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation establishing this date in May 1914 after a campaign led by Anna Jarvis.
The UK and Ireland celebrate Mothering Sunday, which falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent — three weeks before Easter. It's a much older, originally religious observance tied to the Christian calendar, completely separate from the American Mother's Day created by Anna Jarvis in 1908. The two holidays merged in popular practice during the 20th century, but the dates remain different (Mothering Sunday falls in March or early April; US Mother's Day in May).
No. Over 40 countries follow the US date (second Sunday of May), including Canada, Australia, Japan, India, and most of Latin America. The UK and Ireland use Mothering Sunday (Lent-based). Many Eastern European and Russian-speaking countries celebrate on International Women's Day (March 8). Thailand celebrates on August 12 (the Queen's birthday). Mexico fixes it to May 10 every year regardless of weekday.
Anna Jarvis founded the modern US holiday in 1908, organizing a memorial service for her late mother at St. Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. She spent the next six years lobbying state governors and Congress. President Wilson signed the federal proclamation on May 9, 1914. Jarvis later spent decades fighting the commercialization of the holiday she had created.
No. Mother's Day is an officially proclaimed observance but not a federal holiday — government offices, schools, banks, and the postal service all operate normally. Because it always falls on a Sunday, this distinction matters less in practice than it does for weekday observances.
Within five years of its official 1914 establishment. By 1920 Anna Jarvis was publicly denouncing florists, card companies, and confectioners for exploiting the day. She organized boycotts, filed lawsuits, and was reportedly arrested for disturbing the peace at a 1948 confectioners’ convention. Jarvis died in 1948 in a Pennsylvania sanitarium, reportedly with her medical bills paid anonymously by the floral industry she had spent decades fighting.