Happy Mother's Day: A Day to Honour Mothers Worldwide

Thiruvananthapuram: Today is International Mother's Day, observed on the second Sunday of May each year in India and most countries around the world. The day traces its origins to the advocacy of Anna Jarvis, who campaigned for a day in memory of her mother, who died in 1905. In 1908, she placed flowers on her mother's grave at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia — and the tradition she began there is why that church is now known as the International Mother's Day Shrine.

While the second Sunday of May is the most widely observed date, countries mark it differently: the UK and Ireland celebrate on the fourth Sunday of March, Arab nations on March 21, Greece on February 2 per the Julian calendar, and early communist states traditionally observed it on International Women's Day.

As India and much of the world pauses today to honour mothers, the spirit of the occasion is perhaps best summed up by the thought the day itself carries — that love for a mother need not be confined to a single day, but should find expression every day.