While almost every country sets aside a day to honour mothers, this is rarely a public holiday and is seen by many as a modern tradition. 

In Samoa, the value and importance of raising a family and honouring your parents is shown by making the Mondays after Mother’s Day and Father’s Day public holidays. 

The date of Mother’s Day is the same as the day popularised in the USA by Miss Anna Jarvis. 

In 1907, Miss Jarvis began a movement to set up a national Mother’s Day in honour of her mother. Anna’s mother, Mrs Anna M. Jarvis, had been instrumental in developing “Mothers Friendship Day” which was set up to assist in the healing process after the Civil War. Miss Jarvis wanted to set aside a day to honour all mothers, living and dead. 

The first Mother’s Day observance was a church service favourite the second anniversary of her mother’s death, the second Sunday of May. By 1911, Mother’s Day had spread nationwide and was being celebrated in almost every state in the Union.