Día de las Madres is celebrated on May 10 in Mexico every year, and in 2026 it will land on the same day as Mother’s Day in the United States: Sunday, May 10. The overlap is rare. Most years, the two observances are about a week apart because the U.S. holiday falls on the second Sunday of May.
For millions of families, that means the answer to when is mothers day in mexico is simple: it does not move. The date is fixed, tied to a tradition that has held for more than a century. The first Día de las Madres in Mexico was celebrated in Oaxaca in 1913, and researchers from Mexico’s National Council for Culture and the Arts say the modern celebration began in 1922.
The Mexican observance took root after journalist Rafael Alducín pushed the idea on April 13, 1922. The proposal had originally come from José Vasconcelos, then secretary of education, and later won support from the Catholic Episcopate and members of the Mexican Red Cross. May was chosen because it is the month dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the 10th was selected because payments were made in 10-day periods at the time.
The U.S. holiday followed a different path. In 1908, Ann Marie Jarvis campaigned for a day to honor those who give life and proposed the second Sunday of May. Mother’s Day was officially approved as a national holiday in 1914 by the U.S. Congress and President Woodrow Wilson, and around 40 countries later adopted that same Sunday observance.
Mexico became the first Latin American country to adopt the commemoration, and the date has remained unchanged ever since. On May 10, 1949, a large sculpture honoring mothers was inaugurated in Mexico’s capital, a sign of how deeply the day had already settled into public life. The fixed date gives the holiday a different rhythm from the American version, which shifts from year to year.
The tension in the calendar comes from that difference: one country keeps the same day, the other moves with the month. In most years, that leaves families, schools and businesses working around two separate observances, one in Mexico and one in the United States, even though both are meant to honor mothers. In 2026, the schedules line up. After that, the dates split again.
