Just like they have for more than a century, Americans will celebrate their mothers this year on the second Sunday in May.
Mother’s Day, which is recognized on different dates around the world, falls on May 8 in the U.S. this year. The annual tradition of honoring moms officially began when President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation on May 9, 1914, declaring the second Sunday in May “a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”
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The proclamation came after Philadelphia activist Anna Jarvis thought to send 500 carnations to her mother’s West Virginia church in her honor on May 10, 1908, in what is considered the first Mother’s Day celebration.
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