Mother’s Day is a fairly new holiday celebrated in the United States, but there are similar and older traditions around the world going back to the times of ancient Greece. The Greeks honored and celebrated a day for Rhea, the mother of the gods. Another Greek goddess, Cybela was also celebrated in ancient times. In England during the seventeenth century, a day called Mothering Sunday began and was observed during Lent.

Although many people believe Mother’s Day was an invention by greeting card companies, it was actually begun based on the efforts of Julia Howe who began a campaign in 1872 to set aside a day to honor mothers. In 1907, Anna Jarvis continued her efforts with a letter writing crusade to politicians and ministers. Finally in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made the official declaration making the second Sunday in May, Mother’s Day in the United States. Many other countries, including Italy, Belgium, Finland, and Denmark followed suit and observe Mother’s Day on the same day as the United States.

Internationally, the concept of Mother’s Day has spread far and wide, primarily from the British custom of Mothering Sunday in Great Britain, and the traditional Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May in the United States. Although many countries celebrate it on the same dates as Great Britain and the United States, many other dates have become popular for this annual honor to mothers. Probably the most popular after these two dates is in conjunction with the vernal Equinox. The first Sunday in May and the last Sunday in May are also very popular. Most eastern European and Russian countries have settles on March eighth as the day to celebrate Mother’s Day.

Like many other holiday’s, most notably Valentine’s Day, this holiday has become more and more commercialized. As with Valentine’s Day, a holiday steeped in tradition is now a day to buy greeting cards, flowers, and taking mom out to a local restaurant. Mother’s Day, a day which began as a simple custom to honor the family’s mother and set aside a time to show her respect and reverence, has grown into one of the most commercialized of all the holidays in the United States.

A similar holiday, Father’s Day was began soon after the advent of Mother’s Day as a day to complement it and to celebrate the father of the family. The holiday hasn’t become quite as commercialized as Mother’s Day, but it is gaining ground.