Question 1

True or false: More flowers are purchased on Mother's Day than on Valentine's Day in the United States.

Accepted Answer

False. Valentine's Day still holds the top spot for flower sales; Mother's Day is second, though it leads in other categories like greeting cards.

Question 2

True or false: Mother's Day is the most popular day of the year for phone calls in the US.

Accepted Answer

True. Mother's Day consistently sees the highest volume of phone calls, surpassing even Christmas and New Year's, as people call their mothers.

Question 3

True or false: Mother's Day was originally created as a day for peace activism, not just honoring mothers.

Accepted Answer

True. Julia Ward Howe proposed a 'Mother's Day for Peace' in 1870, urging mothers to oppose war, long before the modern commercial holiday emerged.

Question 4

True or false: Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, later spent her life trying to have the holiday abolished.

Accepted Answer

True. Jarvis grew disgusted by the commercialization of Mother's Day and actively campaigned against it, even being arrested for protesting.

Question 5

True or false: Mother's Day was first celebrated in ancient Greece with a festival honoring the mother goddess Rhea.

Accepted Answer

False. Modern Mother's Day was founded by Anna Jarvis in 1908. The ancient Greek festival for Rhea is not its origin.

Question 6

True or false: Hallmark started selling Mother's Day cards in the early 1900s, before the holiday was officially recognized.

Accepted Answer

False. Mother's Day was nationally recognized in the US in 1914. Hallmark, founded in 1910, didn't produce its first greeting card until 1915, making it impossible for the company to have sold Mother's Day cards before then.

Question 7

True or false: In the US, Mother's Day became a federal holiday in 1914, signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.

Accepted Answer

False. Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day, but it was never made an official federal holiday with paid leave.

Question 8

True or false: The traditional flower of Mother's Day is the carnation, with red for living mothers and white for deceased.

Accepted Answer

True. Anna Jarvis, who founded Mother's Day, sent white carnations to the first service. The carnation became the symbolic flower: red for living mothers, white for those deceased.

Mother's Day Trivia Questions