Or for that matter, is it Mothers’ Day?
When Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother, a peace activist, in 1908, it would be the predecessor for the annual day when we honour mothers. However, Jarvis had started campaigning for an annual holiday 3 years prior to that. By 1911, thanks to Jarvis’s efforts, all US states were observing the holiday, and in 1914, the US president, Woodrow Wilson, signed a proclamation that the holiday would fall on the second Sunday in May each year.
When she trademarked the holiday name in 1912, Jarvis used the spelling “Mother’s Day”, and the organization she created around the event was called “Mother’s Day International Association”.
As you can see, she intended for the holiday to be singular possessive. In fact, according to an article in the 11 May 2008 Vancouver Sun:
“She was specific about the location of the apostrophe; it was to be a singular possessive, for each family to honour their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world.”
Taylor, L. (2008, May 11). Mother’s Day creator likely ‘spinning in her grave’. The Vancouver Sun. Link
Which is an easy to remember it, actually. Mother’s Day is about honouring your own mother. So just use Mother’s.
Unless you have two mothers. Then perhaps Mothers’ Day actually works.
