Well, I didn't, but now I've been to Wikipedia, and now I know more than I did before!
Mother's Day in the US, in its present form, is a secular holiday which was championed by a woman named Anna Jarvis to honour her mother, who passed away in early May, 1905. The first official Mother's Day service was held on Sunday, May 10, 1908, which was the second Sunday in May, and it has been observed on the second Sunday in May ever since. Many other countries (such as my own Canada) have adopted the US observance and date.
In the UK, they actually observe Mothering Sunday, even though it has been referred to as "Mother's Day" more and more over the years. This is actually an observance based in religion, and in fact was apparently originally a day when people would visit their "mother" church, but later came to be more about honouring mothers. It falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent. Its history stretches back to the 16th century, but the observance had waned by the early twentieth century. Although unrelated to the American Mother's Day, a woman named Constance Penswick-Smith was inspired by Anna Jarvis' efforts, and, beginning in 1914, led a campaign to revive the observance. It was ultimately successful, and by the 1950s it was observed across all the UK.
So there you go. Thank you goes to the Free Encyclopedia that anyone can edit!
