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Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May every year to honour our mothers and motherhood. Mother's Day is celebrated on different days in different countries. Most of the countries, including USA, UK and India, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May.
The first Mother's Day was observed in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, who died in 1905, at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, conceived the idea as a way to venerate "a mother's private service to her family." Jarvis campaigned for recognition of Mother's Day as an official holiday. Anna chose the second Sunday in May as the annual date for the holiday because it marked the anniversary of her mother's death. The white carnation became a symbol of the day, and was selected by Jarvis to honor her mother's favorite flower.
It was in 1914 that the then US President Woodrow Wilson declared second Sunday in May as a national holiday that will be celebrated as Mother's Day.
International Mother's Day Shrine
Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church where Anna Jarvis celebrated the first Mother's Day is known as the "mother church" of Mother's Day. It was incorporated as the International Mother's Day Shrine on May 15, 1962, as a shrine to all mothers.
Further Reading