Days Until Mother's Day

Mother's Day in the US — and in most countries that follow the US convention, including South Africa, Australia, and Canada — is the second Sunday of May. The date therefore moves every year, and this page computes the right Sunday and counts to it live.

Because it always lands on a Sunday, the practical deadline is earlier than the day itself: flowers and deliveries book out across the preceding week. Under 10 days on the counter above is order-now territory.

There is no single Mother's Day, and assuming otherwise causes a great many missed calls. The US, Australia, South Africa, Canada and much of the world use the second Sunday in May. The UK and Ireland use Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, which moves with Easter and usually falls in March. Much of the Arab world uses 21 March, the spring equinox. Norway uses February; Argentina, October.

The two Anglophone versions have unrelated origins. Mothering Sunday was a religious observance about returning to one's mother church, which acquired its familial meaning gradually. The American holiday was founded by Anna Jarvis in 1908 in memory of her own mother — and Jarvis spent the rest of her life campaigning against what it became, denouncing the florists and card companies and being arrested at least once protesting its commercialisation.

If you have family in more than one country, the practical answer is to note both dates. The May and March observances are typically six to ten weeks apart, and a card timed to the wrong one arrives conspicuously late rather than early.

Mother's Day (US) — the next five years