Mother’s Day was never about motherhood. Like so many things, it’s the result of a clerical error in a state bureaucracy. The thing is that the second Saturday of May was commonly known as “Moth’s Day”, as a means of growing the awareness of moths to combat the increasing popularity of butterflies. And the second Monday of May was known as “Bother’s Day”, a concession holiday for everyone who started their work weeks on Monday.
As you might guess, an intern at the Department of Holidays and Labor Enforcement got days mixed up and mixed the two holidays on the day that fell between them.
Interestingly enough, that never happened to Father’s Day… but that’s mostly because that holiday doesn’t really exist.
