On the second Sunday of May, Turkish cafés fill with families, florists run out of tulips and roses, and somewhere in Istanbul a jazz singer takes the stage with a set of songs about home. The same weekend, millions of Americans phone their mothers, while in Britain the equivalent day already came and went back in March. So which Mother's Day is the real one? This guide on takvim.in untangles the different traditions, dates and stories behind the day.
Key takeaways
- Modern American Mother's Day began with Anna Jarvis, who organised a memorial service for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia, in May 1908; President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday of May a national observance in 1914.
- The British Mothering Sunday is a different, much older Christian custom tied to Lent, not to Jarvis's campaign.
- There is no single global date: Norway marks the day in February, the UK and Ireland in March, Mexico on 10 May, Thailand on 12 August and Argentina in October.
- Turkey celebrates on the second Sunday of May; the custom took hold there in 1955, through the initiative of the Turkish Women's Union (Türk Kadınlar Birliği).
- Jarvis herself later turned against the commercial side of the day, which is a useful reminder of what it was meant to be.
Who invented Mother's Day as we know it?
The story usually starts with a daughter grieving. Ann Reeves Jarvis, an Appalachian community organiser, died in 1905, and her daughter Anna Jarvis set out to honour her and, through her, all mothers. In May 1908 Anna organised a memorial service at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. She sent 500 white carnations to the service, her mother's favourite flower. Jarvis described the white carnation as a symbol of the truth, purity and broad charity of a mother's love, and the flower is still the emblem most closely tied to the day.
Jarvis then campaigned relentlessly by letter, asking ministers, politicians and businessmen to back a national day. It worked. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation designating the second Sunday of May as Mother's Day in the United States. That rule, a movable date that always lands on a Sunday, is the one Turkey and many other countries later adopted.
The ending is bitter. Once florists, card makers and candy companies embraced the holiday, Jarvis became resentful of its commercialisation. She organised boycotts and threatened legal action against greeting-card companies, arguing that a handwritten letter said more than a bought card. The woman who created the day spent part of her later life fighting what it had become.
Is Mothering Sunday the same thing as Mother's Day?
Not originally, and this is where many articles blur two stories. Mothering Sunday is celebrated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the weeks of fasting before Easter. In 2026 it fell on 15 March. Its roots are religious: it honoured the "mother church", the parish where a person was baptised. Accounts of the custom go back to the medieval period, and the name "Mothering-day" is documented by 1644.
In the early modern period, servants were traditionally given time off to visit their mother church, and in practice their families. Traditional gifts included simnel cake, a fruit cake, and violets. In 1913 Constance Penswick Smith revived the observance through the Mothering Sunday Movement, and by the 1950s it had spread across the Commonwealth. Later, American influence turned the British day into something close to the secular Mother's Day, but it kept its place in Lent instead of moving to May.
So the two days share a name in everyday speech, yet they come from different places: one from a daughter's memorial in West Virginia, the other from centuries of church practice.
When is Mother's Day around the world?
There is no global standard. Different countries chose dates that suit their own calendars, saints, queens or seasons. Here is a small comparison.
| Country or region | When it is marked | Note |
|---|---|---|
| United States, Turkey and many others | Second Sunday of May | In 2026: 10 May |
| United Kingdom, Ireland | Fourth Sunday of Lent | Called Mothering Sunday; 15 March in 2026 |
| Norway | Second Sunday of February | 8 February in 2026 |
| Mexico | 10 May | Fixed date, any weekday |
| Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Palestine | 21 March | Fixed date |
| Thailand | 12 August | Queen Sirikit's birthday |
| Indonesia | 22 December | Fixed date |
| Argentina | Third Sunday of October | 18 October in 2026 |
Two patterns stand out. Some countries follow the American Sunday rule, while others prefer a fixed calendar date, which means the holiday can land in the middle of a working week. If you travel or have relatives abroad, check the local date before you buy flowers.
How did Turkey come to celebrate it?
Turkey adopted the day in the mid-twentieth century. According to Turkish sources, on 5 May 1955, on the initiative of the Turkish Women's Union (Türk Kadınlar Birliği, a women's organisation founded in 1924), it was decided that the second Sunday of May would be celebrated every year as Anneler Günü. In that first year, the 98-year-old Nene Hatun of Erzurum, remembered as one of the heroes of the 1877-78 war with Russia (known in Turkish as the 93 War), was chosen as the Mother of the Year.
You will sometimes read earlier dates for Turkey. We found the 1955 account repeated in several Turkish outlets and in an academic paper, so we use it here, but if you dig into the topic you will notice that popular retellings vary. The safe conclusion is that the Sunday-in-May format came from the American model, and the Turkish Women's Union gave it its local form.
Since then the day has become firmly domestic: school plays, handmade cards, breakfast in bed, family lunches, flowers and small gifts. It falls on 12 May in 2024, 11 May in 2025 and 10 May in 2026.
What actually happens on Mother's Day?
That depends on the family, but a few habits repeat. In the United States, people send cards, flowers and take mothers out for brunch; restaurants report it as one of their busiest days of the year. In Turkey the school side matters: children in nursery and primary school prepare poems and paper flowers, and often perform a small show for parents. Adults tend to choose flowers, a meal out, or a home-cooked lunch with the extended family.
Jarvis's own preference was simpler: visit your mother, or write her a letter by hand. That idea is easy to overlook among the offers, and it costs nothing.
Many cities also program culture for the weekend. Concerts, matinee shows and family workshops are common, since a shared evening is an easy present for someone who does not need another object. In 2019, for example, the Yeldeğirmeni Sanat venue in Kadıköy, Istanbul, hosted a Mother's Day jazz concert with vocalist Dolunay Obruk, accompanied by piano, saxophone and double bass. It is a good example of the day as an outing instead of a purchase.
Why does the day matter, and why is it criticised?
Supporters see it as a moment to say things that are easy to postpone: thank you, I am sorry, I see what you do. It is one of the few holidays that reaches across religions and generations, and in many places it has also become a day for talking about unpaid care work.
Critics raise three points. The first is commercialisation, which Jarvis herself called out. The second is that a single day can feel like a small payment for a year of unrecognised labour. The third is sensitivity: the day can be painful for people who have lost a mother, who are estranged, or who are struggling to become mothers. Thoughtful celebrations leave room for that. A message to a friend who has lost her mother costs one minute.
How can you make the day better than a bunch of flowers?
Here are a few ideas that hold up in practice. Book ahead if you want a restaurant, because the second Sunday of May is a busy day. Ask your mother what she would enjoy instead of guessing: some people want a walk, others a quiet afternoon. Choose an experience that includes time together, such as a concert, a museum visit, a boat trip on the Bosphorus or a picnic. And consider writing a real letter, which is closest to what Anna Jarvis had in mind.
If you live in Turkey, this is also a good weekend to look for family-friendly events. Listings on takvim.in let you filter what is happening in your city, from concerts to workshops, so the plan does not have to be another default lunch.
FAQ
When is Mother's Day in Turkey in 2026?
Turkey celebrates it on the second Sunday of May, which in 2026 is 10 May. In 2025 it was 11 May and in 2024 it was 12 May.
Is Mothering Sunday the same as Mother's Day?
They are separate traditions. Mothering Sunday is a Lenten observance in the UK and Ireland, falling on the fourth Sunday of Lent (15 March in 2026), and it began as a day to honour the mother church. The American Mother's Day comes from Anna Jarvis's campaign that began in 1908. Modern British practice blends the two.
Who started Mother's Day in the United States?
Anna Jarvis. She organised the first formal observance in Grafton, West Virginia, in May 1908 to honour her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, and campaigned until President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday of May as Mother's Day in 1914.
Why do some countries celebrate on different dates?
Because each country adopted the idea on its own terms. Some copied the American second-Sunday rule, some chose a religious calendar, and some picked a date tied to a national figure, such as Thailand's 12 August, the birthday of Queen Sirikit.
Conclusion
Mother's Day is really several days that share a name: a grieving daughter's memorial in 1908, an old church custom in the British Isles, and a modern Turkish family holiday that started in 1955. Whichever version you keep, the core is the same: spend real time with the person who raised you. To find concerts, workshops and family outings near you this second Sunday of May, browse takvim.in.
