Today the Second Sunday of May is celebrated in the United States of America as Mother's Day

A day to honor mothers has existed for as long as, well, there have been mothers. Festivals honoring mothers in ancient times were often tied to gods and goddesses and maternal symbols of fertility, birth, creativity, and cycles of growth. The mother is the protector and nourisher of children and, by extension, of all humanity.

Mother’s Day, holiday in honour of mothers that is celebrated in countries throughout the world. In its modern form the holiday originated in the United States, where it is observed on the second Sunday in May. Many other countries also celebrate the holiday on this date, while some mark the observance at other times of the year. During the Middle Ages the custom developed of allowing those who had moved away to visit their home parishes and their mothers on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent. This became Mothering Sunday in Britain, where it continued into modern times, although it has largely been replaced by Mother’s Day. 

The official US Mother's Day was established in the 1900s following the efforts of Philadelphia school teacher Anna Jarvis. After her mother's death in 1905, she created Mother's Day as a way to honor mothers' devotion to their children.

In May 1908 Jarvis arranged the first official Mother's Day celebration in a church in West Virginia, with the financial help of a Philadelphia department store owner. Besides, thousands of people joined a Mother's Day event in one of his retail stores in Philadelphia that same day.

After the success of her first Mother's Day, Jarvis wanted to put her holiday on the national calendar. By claiming that American holidays were geared toward male accomplishments, she initiated a huge mailing campaign to newspapers and renowned politicians in which she called for the introduction of a special day to honor motherhood.

Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, whose mother had organized women’s groups to promote friendship and health, originated Mother’s Day. On May 12, 1907, she held a memorial service at her late mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia. Within five years virtually every state was observing the day, and in 1914 U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson made it a national holiday. 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. Over time the day was expanded to include others, such as grandmothers and aunts, who played mothering roles. What had originally been primarily a day of honour became associated with the sending of cards and the giving of gifts, however, and, in protest against its commercialization, Jarvis spent the last years of her life trying to abolish the holiday she had brought into being.

Festivals honouring 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, honouring the goddess Durga, remains an important festival in India.