When Is Mother's Day 2013? 5 Things To Know About The Special Date

On Sunday, May 12, Mother's Day will be celebrated in the United States. It will be the 99th Mother's Day to be commemorated since 1914, when then-president Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it a holiday, assigning it to the second Sunday in May.

1. Ann Reeves Jarvis, the West Virginia women's organizer, spearheaded the idea.

As early as the 1850s, Jarvis held Mother's Day work clubs in which issues which progressives of the period saw as key - like the improvement of sanitation and the lowering of infant mortality - were addressed collectively. Her groups also tended to wounded soldiers on both sides of the US Civil War from 1861 to 1865, according to National Geographic.

Following the war, Jarvis used the idea to promote accord among former Confederates and Union loyalists, and called for women to play in active role in maintaining peace in the still-fragile union of the United States.

2. It was originally "Mother's Day" -- singular -- not "Mothers' Day".

At the time, Jarvis stressed that it was a dedication not to mothers everywhere but rather to the "best" mother -- one's own mother. When Woodrow Wilson made it an official holiday, this was the spelling he used. In time, the plural "Mothers' Day" became accepted as well.

Jarvis ended up becoming a vocal opponent of the holiday she helped bring about. Its transformation into a commercial bonanza bothered her. She began to organize protests and boycotts and threatened others with lawsuits, and attacked first lady Eleanor Roosevelt for raising funds for charities on the holiday. She was even arrested in Philadelphia in 1925 for disturbing the peace after she crashed a convention where the American War Mothers were fundraising.

3. If you're buying flowers or jewelry for your mother, you're not alone.

In 2012 it was estimated that in the US, $18.6 billion was spent on gifts for the holiday. Some 66 percent of Americans buy their mothers flowers, according to the National Retail Federation, while 30 percent opt for jewelry.

4. If you're taking her out to eat, you're not alone, either.

The National Restaurant Association says that about 75 million adults went out to eat last year in commemoration of the holiday.

5. The holiday exists in somewhat varied ways in other countries and cultures.

In the UK, "Mothering Sunday" already existed before Ann Jarvis' campaigns. In Greece, the holiday was adopted on the model of the Orthodox Christian commemoration of the presentation of Jesus Christ to the temple on Feb. 2. Other former Communist nations opt for "International Women's Day" -- originally "International Working Women's Day," a holiday which has gradually lost its labor-themed associations and occurs on March 8.