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96 free Mother's Day trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
19 free Mother's Day trivia questions with answers. Mother's Day trivia lives in two places on BrainPickle. This page is the shorter set; the main quiz is Mother's Day trivia, with our deepest question pool on the topic and a source behind every answer.
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Q 01Which Philadelphia merchant helped Anna Jarvis launch Mother's Day with a 1908 store ceremony?
John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker, the Philadelphia department-store owner, backed Jarvis's campaign and hosted a Mother's Day ceremony in his store's auditorium on 10 May 1908, the same day as the memorial service at her mother's church.
Q 02In what year did Mother's Day officially become a national holiday in the United States?
1914
In 1914 Congress passed a joint resolution on 8 May and the president proclaimed the first national Mother's Day on 9 May, a day for public expression of reverence for mothers.
Q 03Which U.S. President signed the proclamation officially designating Mother's Day as a national holiday?
Woodrow Wilson
His proclamation asked Americans to display the flag in honour of mothers whose sons had died in war.
Q 04Which flower, her mother's favourite, did Anna Jarvis make the Mother's Day emblem?
Carnation
The white carnation was Ann Reeves Jarvis's favourite flower; her daughter chose it for the purity of a mother's love, and florists later made pink mean a living mother and white a deceased one.
Q 05Which town's Methodist church held the first Mother's Day services in 1907–08?
Grafton
Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, where Ann Reeves Jarvis had long taught Sunday school, held the first Mother's Day service on 10 May 1908; it was named a National Historic Landmark in 1992.
Q 06The 1870 'Mother's Day Proclamation' called on mothers of all nationalities to unite for what cause?
World peace
Its author led a 'Mother's Day for Peace' observance in New York in 1872 and sponsored it in Boston for about a decade before it died out.
Q 07Which US state was the first to declare Mother's Day an official holiday, in 1910, with the rest following quickly?
West Virginia
West Virginia, Anna Jarvis's home state, declared it officially in 1910, and the rest of the states followed quickly.
Q 08In the United States, Mother's Day is celebrated on which Sunday of May?
Second
Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrase 'Second Sunday in May' in 1912 and insisted 'Mother's' be a singular possessive, so each family honours its own mother.
Q 09Egypt's Mother's Day was proposed by Mustafa Amin in a 1943 book about which country?
The United States
Mustafa Amin floated the idea in Smiling America, his 1943 book about the United States; Egypt first marked the day on 21 March 1956, and it was later renamed Family Day, then restored after public protest.
Q 10How many carnations did Anna Jarvis hand out at the first Mother's Day celebration in 1908, starting a custom?
500
500 carnations handed out in 1908 started the custom of wearing one to church on the day, later adopted by many congregations.
Q 11In the United States, Mother's Day holds what distinction among all days of the year?
Most popular day to dine out
The National Restaurant Association has ranked Mother's Day the most popular day to dine out in the United States, ahead of Valentine's Day and Father's Day.
Q 12Before Anna Jarvis's efforts, which activist tried to establish a 'Mother's Day for Peace' in the 1870s?
Julia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe, author of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic', issued her Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870 and sponsored Mother's Day for Peace meetings in Boston for about ten years.
Q 13Thailand's Mother's Day, 12 August, is the birthday of which royal?
Sirikit
Q 21In Mexico, it is traditional to open Mother's Day celebrations with which song?
Las Mañanitas
It is often sung a cappella or performed by a hired mariachi or trio at the mother's door.
Q 22Panama celebrates Mother's Day on 8 December, the same day as which Catholic feast?
The Immaculate Conception
Panama's 8 December Mother's Day coincides with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception; the date was suggested in 1930 by the wife of President Florencio Harmodio Arosemena and fixed by Law 69 that year.
Q 23Indonesia's Hari Ibu on 22 December marks the anniversary of what 1928 event?
The first Indonesian Women Congress
Queen Sirikit, consort of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was born on 12 August 1932; Thailand fixed Mother's Day on her birthday in 1976, having earlier observed it on 15 April.
Q 14UK Mothering Sunday is rooted in visiting one's 'mother church' during which Christian observance?
Lent
It coincides with Laetare Sunday, a day of respite from fasting halfway through the penitential season, and its modern revival was led by Constance Adelaide Smith from 1913.
Q 15In which country is Mother's Day uniquely celebrated on the third Sunday of October?
Argentina
It was originally held on 11 October, the old feast of the Maternity of the Virgin Mary; when Vatican II moved that feast to 1 January, Argentines kept the October habit.
Q 16What did Ann Reeves Jarvis's 'Mothers' Day Work Clubs' focus on in the 1850s?
Public health and sanitation
Ann Reeves Jarvis founded the Mothers' Day Work Clubs in 1858 to improve public health and sanitation in Taylor County, teaching hygiene to fight the area's high infant mortality; she died in 1905.
Q 17In 1868, Ann Jarvis, mother of Mother's Day founder Anna, organised a 'Mother's Friendship Day' to reunite families divided by what?
The Civil War
The Civil War had split families, and Ann Jarvis hoped her Friendship Day would grow into an annual memorial for mothers; she died in 1905, three years before her daughter's first service.
Q 18Bolivia's Mother's Day, 27 May, commemorates what event from its 1812 war of independence?
A battle in which women fought to defend their children
The Battle of La Coronilla took place in what is now Cochabamba, and the holiday was written into law in 1927.
Q 19Because it is autumn there in May, which flower is the traditional Mother's Day bloom in Australia?
Chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemums bloom in Australia's May autumn and end in 'mum', so white chrysanthemums became the traditional Mother's Day flower there in place of spring carnations.
Q 20Mexico's Día de las Madres is held on which fixed date every year?
10 May
Mexico's Día de las Madres has been fixed on 10 May since the first celebration on 10 May 1922, promoted by Rafael Alducin's newspaper Excélsior.
The first Indonesian Women Congress opened in Yogyakarta on 22 December 1928, bringing together some thirty women's organisations; Indonesia later fixed that date as Hari Ibu.
Q 24Sweden celebrates Mother's Day on which day of the year?
Last Sunday in May
Sweden has marked Mother's Day on the last Sunday in May since 1919, when the author Cecilia Bååth-Holmberg introduced the idea from abroad.
Q 25In Japan, Mother's Day was initially commemorated on 6 March, the birthday of which imperial consort?
Empress Kōjun
Empress Kōjun, consort of Emperor Hirohito and mother of Akihito, was born on 6 March 1903; Japan moved Mother's Day to the second Sunday of May in 1949.
Q 26Poland's Dzień Matki falls on which fixed date?
26 May
Poland's Dzień Matki falls on 26 May every year; unlike most of Europe, which uses a Sunday in May, Poland ties the day to a fixed calendar date, and 23 June is Father's Day.
Q 27Nepal's Mother's Day, Mata Tirtha Aunsi, is popularly known by what name?
Day to see mother's face
Mata Tirtha Aunsi, on the new moon of Baisakh in April or May, is called Aama ko Mukh Herne Din, 'day to see mother's face'; children visit mothers with sweets, and the bereaved bathe at Mata Tirtha pond.
Q 28Rather than a separate Mother's Day, South Korea marks which holiday on 8 May?
Parents' Day
South Korea replaced Mother's Day with Parents' Day (Eobeoinal) on 8 May in 1973, honouring both parents with carnations; Children's Day falls three days earlier, on 5 May.
Q 29Which organization did Anna Jarvis create in 1912 to police the holiday she founded?
Mother's Day International Association
Anna Jarvis incorporated the Mother's Day International Association in 1912, the same year she trademarked 'Mother's Day' and 'second Sunday in May', to defend the holiday's name against merchants and copycats.
Q 30In which Pennsylvania town did Anna Jarvis die in 1948?
West Chester
Anna Jarvis died on 24 November 1948 at the Marshall Square Sanitarium in West Chester, Pennsylvania, blind and penniless; she was buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery near Philadelphia.