6 Unique Mother's Day Traditions From Around the World

Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May in the United States. In the U.S., it is a special time to celebrate mothers which is often honored with cards, flowers, chocolate, and time devoted just to Mom.

This occasion became a formal U.S. holiday in 1914. It owes its existence to a woman named Anna Jarvis, who established the occasion in order to honor her late mom, but later became a major critic of the holiday's commercialization.

Of course, the practice of honoring mothers long predates this holiday's formal designation. Around the world, many different countries and cultures have unique ways of celebrating moms and all they do. Here are some of the world's most unique mom-related festivities.

1. Visiting Cemeteries
2. Giving Red Carnations
3. Wearing Color-Coded Flowers
4. Serenading Moms With Mariachi Bands
5. Three-Day Festivals
6. Washing Mom’s Feet

Visiting Cemeteries

In Peru, Mother’s Day is a popular occasion meant to honor the mothers, grandmothers, and ancestors who are no longer alive. Peruvians typically give moms flowers, cards, and other gifts on this day, but they also often gather at cemeteries to honor mothers and ancestors who have passed away.

Typically, these cemetery visits are festive occasions, with families gathering to eat, drink, and celebrate among the graves. They often also clean the gravesites and deck them out with flowers and balloons.

Giving Red Carnations

All over the world, flowers are inextricably connected to Mother’s Day, and many countries have their own specific ways of honoring mothers with blooms and blossoms on this occasion. On Mother’s Day in Japan, moms are typically given red carnations, which represent admiration, love, and respect for one’s mother.

Pink carnations are also popular choices, as these flowers symbolize gratitude and love for moms. Sometimes, kids will write notes along with the carnations to deliver a particularly heartfelt gesture of thanks. 

Wearing Color-Coded Flowers

On Mother’s Day in Haiti, a traditional custom involves wearing flowers of specific colors meant to indicate whether their mothers are still living. Typically, red and pink flowers are worn by people who still have their mothers. White flowers are worn by people whose moms recently passed away, and purple flowers are sometimes worn by those who lost their mothers long ago. This tradition also appears in parts of the United States and elsewhere, and is a way to pay respect to all mothers that also honors the feelings of loss that Mother's Day can evoke.

Serenading Moms With Mariachi Bands

Cultures across the world celebrate Mother’s Day with flowers and breakfast in bed—but in Mexican culture, one traditional way to wake moms up on Mother’s Day is by hiring a mariachi band to rouse Mom at dawn. 

This practice predates the establishment of an official Mother’s Day in Mexico. It has its roots in songs called Las Mañanitas, which are traditional serenades meant to be played early in the morning.

Often, mariachi bands would be asked to serenade people’s loved ones in the morning as a way to show love and appreciation, and moms were often the recipients of these affectionate wake-up calls. The tradition has since become a popular way to honor Mother’s Day in Mexican culture.

Three-Day Festivals

In Ethiopia, mothers are celebrated annually with an elaborate three-day celebration that occurs at the end of the rainy season in the autumn. This festival, called Antrosht, is usually a time when adult children return to their family homes.

Usually, kids bring along ingredients that the whole family uses to cook a traditional meal. Daughters are usually tasked with bringing vegetables, cheese, and spices, while sons bring meat, and the cooking of the meal is a ritual in its own right.

The festival also involves sharing stories as well as plenty of dancing and singing, and is an important and profound way to honor mothers' positions at the center of the family and of life itself.

Washing Mom’s Feet

Moms do so much for us, from literally birthing us to washing, changing, feeding, and keeping us alive as babies. So it makes sense that in Indonesia, Mother’s Day is often celebrated by kids returning the favor and washing their mom’s feet. 

This is often done communally, with some schools inviting mothers into their halls and setting up feet-washing and drying stations. The tradition also appears in some other Asian countries, and it is always a symbol of love, respect, and gratitude that is typically performed with heartfelt emotion.

“Hopefully this event becomes a symbol to remind children about all the good deeds and sacrifices of their mothers for the rest of their lives, until they become adults, maybe even until their mother leaves this world,” one mother participating in the tradition told Reuters.

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