• In Mexico, Día de la Madre--Mother's Day--is celebrated the day before it's observed in the United States. It is a huge gala event with mariachis starting at noon and family festivities throughout the day.

• In 1907 Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia started a campaign to officially observe Mother's Day in the U.S. She convinced her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death.

• Many countries celebrate Mother's Day at different times throughout the year. Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium celebrate Mother's Day with the U.S. on the second Sunday of May.

• A pink carnation is worn on Mother's Day to honor a living mother. A white carnation is worn to symbolize remembrance.

• An AT&T survey estimated that 122.5 million phone calls to Mom are made on Mother's Day. Other Mother's Day findings revealed that eleven percent of people never call their mothers and three percent of the 68% planning to phone Mom call her collect.

Mothers

• The daughters of a mother who is colorblind and a father who has normal vision will have normal vision. The sons, however, will be colorblind.

• Babies have a strong sense of smell. This enables them to recognize their mother by scent.

• Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was originally an instructor for deaf children and invented the telephone to help his deaf wife and mother hear.

• The most children born from the same mother at one time were decaplets. In 1946, the eight girls and two boys were born in Brazil.

• The P.T.A., or the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, was founded in the United States in 1897. It was originally called the "National Congress of Mothers," but was expanded to include fathers, teachers, and others.

Here are the ways "Mother" is written in some other languages.Find other ways to write "Mother" at YourDictionary.com!

Mëmë (Albanian)
Mère (French)
Mutter (German)
Madre (Italian)
MATb (Russian)
Mamá (Spanish)
Mame (Yiddish)

No matter how you write "Mother," it means special!

maternal - to do with being a mother as in maternal feelings

maternity - motherhood

matrimony - marriage

matron - an older woman who is married or widowed

mater- and matr- mean...