Mother's Day: History and Traditions
Mother's Day in Ukraine is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. In 2025, this holiday will fall on May 11.
This holiday is celebrated in many countries, but on different dates. For instance, in Poland, it is celebrated on May 26, and in France, it is celebrated on the last Saturday of May. Typically, children greet their mothers with flowers, cards, and warm wishes.
The Origin of the Holiday
The history of Mother's Day dates back to the 20th century. Before that, several American activists tried to establish this holiday, but their efforts went unnoticed.
In the 19th century, activist Anne Jarvis Reeves gave birth to 13 children, of which only four survived. Her children died from diseases and poor living conditions. Anne Jarvis fought hard for sanitation improvements and reducing child mortality rates. She organized Mother's Day celebrations in workers' clubs to enhance the living conditions for mothers.
After Anne's death, her daughter Anna founded the holiday, which has been celebrated for over 100 years. This day was meant to honor her mother's memory and work. According to historian Catherine Lane Antolini, thanks to Jarvis's efforts, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in the USA.
Jarvis dedicated decades to promoting Mother's Day while trying to protect it from commercialization.
Historian Martha Homyak emphasizes, "In America, this holiday has become very commercialized. To me, it is not about material things but a personal day that arose from personal pain."
Mother's Day in Ukraine
By presidential decree in 1999, Mother's Day has been celebrated annually in Ukraine on the second Sunday of May.
The initiators of the revival of Mother's Day in Ukraine were members of the "Union of Ukrainian Women" from Galicia. In the 1930s, they organized concerts and conferences discussing the role of motherhood in the world.
In 1939, Mother's Day was abolished in the USSR, and Ukrainians fought for over fifty years to restore the holiday.
Bogachevskaya-Homyak explains, "Ukraine during the gray Soviet era needed holidays that would emphasize not statehood but the existence of a different, native environment."
Thanks to the efforts of the "Union of Ukrainian Women" and other organizations, the holiday was restored at the state level in 1999. May was deliberately chosen, as it is the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Christianity.
