Mother’s Day or Día de la Madre on May 7 in Spain

Spanish mothers will be pampered on Sunday May 7 (2023) during Mother’s Day or ‘Día de la Madre’. In Spain, Mother’s Day is always celebrated on the first Sunday in May, which differs, for example, from the Netherlands and Belgium, where Mother’s Day takes place on the second Sunday in May, except in Antwerp, where it is celebrated on August 15. .

Mother’s Day is celebrated in honor of motherhood just as Father’s Day (in Spain around March 19) is celebrated in honor of fatherhood. In families celebrating Mother’s Day, the day is all about spoiling the mother. She usually gets breakfast in bed and presents and she’s excused from household chores (a little old-fashioned but still).

Tradition

Mother worship is a much older tradition than modern Mother’s Day, dating back to mother worship in classical Greece. Formal mother worship with ceremonies for Cybele or Rhea, the Great Mother of the gods, was practiced throughout Asia Minor on the ides (15th day) of March. The Catholic Church has a long tradition of worshiping Mary, the mother of Jesus.

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The holiday has spread from the United States to the rest of the Western world in its current form. In the Netherlands and Belgium the tradition started around 1925 and in Spain in 1965, although in Spain this day was never officially declared by the authorities and was only a popular and commercial day.

Global

Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world and on the same day as Spain, the people of Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania do the same. The first Mother’s Day of the year takes place on the second Sunday of February in Norway, followed by Mother’s Day between January 30 and March 1 in Israel. There are also Mother’s Days on or around March 3, March 8, the fourth Sunday of Lent, March 21, March 25, April 7, the first Sunday in May, May 8 and May 10. .

Along with the Netherlands and Belgium (except Antwerp), the following countries also celebrate their Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May: Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Ecuador, Estonia, Philippines, Finland, Ghana, Grenada, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Croatia, Latvia, Malaysia , Malta, New Zealand, Austria, Pakistan, Peru, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Czech Republic, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, United States, Zimbabwe, Africa of the South and Switzerland. (See all dates and countries here )