Mother's Day in Russia in 2024

Mother's Day in Russia in 2024
Matryoshka dolls on sale. Image by Peggy and Marco Lachmann-Anke , via Pixabay
  How long until Mother's Day?
Mother's Day
  Dates of Mother's Day in Russia
2026 Russia Sun, Nov 29 Not A Public Holiday
2025 Russia Sun, Nov 30 Not A Public Holiday
2024 Russia Sun, Nov 24 Not A Public Holiday
2023 Russia Sun, Nov 26 Not A Public Holiday
2022 Russia Sun, Nov 27 Not A Public Holiday
  Summary

Last Sunday in November. National holiday since 1998

  Mother's Day in other countries
Mother's Day internationally
Related holidays

Mother's Day in Russia

In Russia, Mother's Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of November. It was established as a national holiday by the decree of January 30th 1998 by the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin.

The purpose of the holiday - respect for the mothers and the expression of love and care for them. On this day, all mothers are congratulated and given gifts, flowers, and cards.

About Mother's Day

Not a public holiday, but a legal national holiday observed on the second Sunday in May in the United States.

Mother's Day is celebrated across the world, in more than 50 countries, though not all countries celebrate it on the same day.

Countries that celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May include Australia, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and Belgium. In Mexico and many parts of Latin America, Mother's Day is celebrated on May 10th of each year. In Thailand, it is celebrated on August 12th, the birthday of the current Queen.

Mother's Day around the world

Early History

Arguably, the tradition of a day to celebrate mothers can be traced back to the times of the ancient Greeks, who held festivities to honour Rhea, the mother of the gods.

Early Christians celebrated the fourth Sunday of Lent as a mother's festival to honour Mary, the mother of Christ.

In the UK, the tradition of Mother's Day is now very similar to its American counterpart, but its origins are different, as the day commemorates returning to your mother church on the fourth Sunday in Lent.

The English colonists who settled in America discontinued the tradition of Mothering Sunday, as presumably, it would have been a bit of a trip to return to their mother church for the day.

The American tradition

For a holiday, that became popular in fairly recent times, we can still manage to find three originations for the day.

A true American Mother's Day was first suggested in the United States by Julia Ward Howe, writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. She suggested that the day be dedicated to peace. Starting in 1872, she organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston every year.

However, some would argue that Mother's day on the current date was almost accidentally set in motion by Mrs Juliet Calhoun Blakely. On Sunday 11 May 1877, Mrs Blakely's birthday, her son who was the pastor of her Church, left the pulpit abruptly. Mrs Blakely then stepped to the pulpit and took over the rest of the service, calling for other mothers to join her.

Mrs. Blakely's two sons felt so moved by their mother's actions that they vowed to return to their hometown of Albion, Michigan., every year to mark their mother's birthday. In addition, the brothers urged others to honour their own mothers on the second Sunday of May.

In terms of the holiday gaining its national status, undoubtedly the main driver was a Philadelphia schoolteacher called Anna M. Jarvis.

In 1907, Miss Anna, began a movement to set up a national Mother's Day in honor 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.

Miss Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, evangelists, businessmen, and politicians in their crusade to establish a national Mother's Day.

The first Mother's Day observance was a church service favourite the second anniversary of her mother's death, the second Sunday of May. Anna handed out her mother's favourite flowers, white incarnations.

The following year, Mother's Day was also celebrated in Miss Anna's own city of Philadelphia. By 1911, Mother's Day had spread nationwide and was being celebrated in almost every state in the Union.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honour of mothers.

Over the years, Mother's day became increasingly popular and the current traditions of card and gift-giving increased. It is said that the commercialization of Mother's day angered Anna as she felt that the original sentiment of the day was being sacrificed at the expense of greed and profit.

Mother's Day is now one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States. This year, consumers are expected to spend $21.2 billion on Mother's Day, an increase of 5 percent from last year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.

The Greeting Card Association estimates that more than 150 million Mother’s Day cards are exchanged in the U.S. every year, making Mother’s Day the third-largest card-sending holiday after Christmas and Valentine’s Day.


Did you know?

Three facts about Mother's Day

A Mother's day tradition is wearing a carnation. A colored carnation signifies that a person's mother is living while a white carnation is used to honor a deceased mother.

Approximately 65 percent of card sales occur five days prior to Mother's Day.

In Thailand, Mother's Day is celebrated on 12 August, the birthday of the current Queen.

More facts about Mother's Day

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