Mother's Day origins and how we celebrate today. Watch video

As we celebrate moms again this year, here's a look at how Mother's Day came to be.

Did you get your mom a gift? Mother's Day is almost here.

The annual holiday honoring mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, guardians, and mother figures falls on the second Sunday of May. Some families celebrate with brunch, flowers, and heartfelt cards.

Mother's Day was created in 1908 by Anna Jarvis, and it became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, according to The History Channel. Its counterpart, Father's Day, takes place in June.

Here's when Mother's Day takes place in 2026.

When is Mother's Day 2026?

Mother's Day is on Sunday, May 10, this year. Every year, the holiday falls on the second Sunday of May.

History of Mother's Day

Celebrations of motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, according to The History Channel.

The early Christian festival known as "Mothering Sunday" was also once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. The holiday fell on the fourth Sunday of Lent and was a time when churchgoers would return to their "mother church" for a special service.

It later evolved into a more secular celebration, focused on children honoring their mothers. This custom eventually "merged" with the U.S. Mother's Day holiday in the 1940s.

In 1908, after her own mother's death, American social activist Anna Jarvis began a letter-writing and public speaking campaign to generate support for a holiday to honor mothers, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Within a few years, most U.S. states were celebrating Mother's Day, and the movement had taken hold in other countries. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother's Day a national holiday in the U.S. Jarvis later spoke out against the commercialization of the holiday.

Seth Jacobson of the USA Today Network contributed to this report.

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