5 THINGS: Some interesting facts you might not know about Mother's Day

May 11—Sunday is Mother's Day. Here are some interesting facts you might not know about Mother's Day from mentalfloss.com.

1 Mother's Day and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" have something in common.

"The woman who first proposed Mother's Day in 1870 was the same woman who wrote the lyrics to 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic.' After the Civil War, writer Julia Ward Howe suggested a Mother's Day to recognize peace and protest war. She organized annual events in Boston to honor mothers, but despite her work (and her moving 'Mother's Day Proclamation'), nothing official came of her efforts."

2 People spend a lot of time on the phone on Mother's Day.

"In 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, Verizon reported a 13% increase in phone call volume in the U.S. on Mother's Day when compared to a typical pre-pandemic Sunday. Text messages also went up 25% over the previous Sunday. That amounted to 1.75 billion minutes of phone calls and six billion texts. While much of that can be attributed to the social isolation experienced during Mother's Day 2020, it wasn't too far off from the 11% increase in calls that Verizon observed on the holiday in 2018 when compared to a normal Sunday."

3 It's usually the busiest day of the year in the restaurant industry.

"Though recent years have changed this somewhat, Mother's Day is typically the busiest day of the year for restaurants—it tops even Valentine's Day. In 2024, an estimated 59 percent of people planned to spend money on a special outing such as brunch or dinner."

4 Moms around the world are recognized with days throughout the year.

"Many countries have a version of Mother's Day, but the traditions vary depending on where you are. In Thailand, parades are held in honor of moms, with jasmine given out as a common gift; meanwhile, moms are celebrated in Ethiopia during a three-day festival that involves plenty of food and singing."

5 Mother's Day founder Anna Jarvis fought back against the commercialization of the holiday.

"Although Julia Ward Howe first suggested a day for mothers, Anna Jarvis (who had no children of her own) campaigned for a national day of observance for moms, in remembrance of her own mother, Ann Jarvis, who had spent years working to provide resources for impoverished mothers in West Virginia. Mother's Day became a designated holiday in 1914, but within a few years, Jarvis became disgusted with how commercial the day had become and started a petition to rescind the holiday."

— Ronn Rowland