Mother's Day Around the World

Did you notice that in the vast majority of the world’s languages, the word for “mother” begins with the letter M (maman, mom, mutter, mor, moeder, madre, matka)? Everywhere in the world, mothers are the pillar of the family. Mother’s day takes its origin from the USA in the early XXs with Anna Jarvis who successfully campaigned to dedicate a special day to honour mothers. Since then, mother’s day has crossed the ocean and the spirit spread over to become an international holiday celebrated at different dates with different traditions.

Mother's Day Traditions

• In Panama, Mother’s Day has a strong Catholic origin and is celebrated on December 8th. This is the day of the Virgin Mary, considered as the most famous mothers.
• In many Arabic countries, Mother’s Day is celebrated on March 21st. This day coincides with the start of spring.
• In Thailand, mothers are honoured on August 12th, which is the birthday of Queen Sirikit. She has reigned since 1956 being considered by many as a mother to all Thais.
• In Spain, the “Dia de la Madre” is celebrated every first Sunday of May. Mothers and grandmothers receive a lot of gifts and flowers. This day is considered as a “free” day for all mums who should not cook that day. As a result, many families have lunch together in restaurant!
• In the UK, Mothering Sunday is held on the 4th Sunday of Lent, which is in early or mid-March in general. The tradition is to cook a simnel cake - a fruit cake with 2 layers of marzipan -  for the mothers
• In the US, President Wilson decided in 1914, after pressure from Anna Jarvis, to officially set Mother’s Day the second Sunday of May. It’s probably the country where greeting cards sales beat records every year. A tradition is also to cook a breakfast-in-bed.
• In Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, Mother’s day is also celebrated the second Sunday of May. Kids also love this breakfast in bed surprise to their mum. In this day everything is done to make life easier to their mum (at least worth trying it!)
• Norway celebrates Mother’s Day the second Sunday of February which is very close to Valentine’s Day and a source for a double gift to mum (hope so!)
• In Japan, Mother’s Day is the second Sunday of May and the tradition is that kids offer red carnations to their mum as well as other gifts
• In France, Mother’s Day is celebrated the last Sunday of May, but if it falls on the same Sunday as Pentecost, then it is moved to the first Sunday of June. Flowers and handmade gifts at school are traditional gifts from kids.
• In Sweden Mother’s Day is always celebrated the last Sunday of May. Like in many other countries, breakfast in bed, flowers and gifts are among the favourite surprise given to mums.

Are you far away from your mum? Thanks to our international network we can surprise and spoil her with a flower delivery. Check our flowers and gifts collection and make her happy wherever she is! Happy Mother’s Day.