Mother's Day 2027 Countdown

Mother's Day 2027 falls on the second Sunday of May, continuing the tradition of honoring mothers and mother figures. The holiday was championed by Anna Jarvis, who held the first official Mother's Day service in 1908 in Grafton, West Virginia. It became a national holiday in 1914. While Jarvis later became critical of the commercialization of the holiday, it remains one of the biggest days for phone calls, flower deliveries, and greeting card sales in the United States.

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Mother's Day as we know it in America was founded by Anna Jarvis, a woman who never became a mother herself. After her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis died in 1905, Anna wanted to honor all mothers and the sacrifices they make for their children. Ann Jarvis had been a social activist and community organizer during the Civil War, and she had long dreamed of a day that would honor all mothers. Anna Jarvis began campaigning for a national 'Mother's Day' in 1907, starting with a memorial service for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia, that was attended by over 400 people. The service included white carnations — her mother's favorite flower — which would become the official symbol of Mother's Day.

Jarvis's campaign quickly gained momentum across the country. She wrote thousands of letters to politicians, newspaper editors, and businessmen, urging them to support a national Mother's Day. By 1911, Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation officially making Mother's Day a national holiday, to be held on the second Sunday in May. The proclamation stated that the day should 'give thanks to the mother of the family for the faithful service she renders day after day, year after year, in the home.' This official recognition was the culmination of seven years of relentless campaigning by Anna Jarvis.

Ironically, Anna Jarvis spent the rest of her life fighting against the commercialization of the holiday she had created. She hated that florists raised the price of carnations every year, that greeting cards had become impersonal, and that stores had turned her heartfelt tribute into a marketing event. Jarvis spent her entire fortune — over $150,000 — fighting against the commercialization, and she even protested at a Mother's Day event in 1948, the year she died, where she was arrested for disturbing the peace. She told reporters that she 'wished she had never started Mother's Day' because of what it had become. Her last wish was that people would write handwritten letters to their mothers instead of buying expensive gifts and cards.