Easter
When is Mother's Day in the UK?
The countdown aims at the next Mothering Sunday, on your own clock. Below, every date to 2035.
Mother's Day (Mothering Sunday), 2027
Sunday, 7 March 2027
Rule: the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter Day.
| 2026 | Sunday, 15 March 2026 |
| 2027 | Sunday, 7 March 2027 |
| 2028 | Sunday, 26 March 2028 |
| 2029 | Sunday, 11 March 2029 |
| 2030 | Sunday, 31 March 2030 |
| 2031 | Sunday, 23 March 2031 |
Next Mother's Day (Mothering Sunday)
7 March 2027
Sunday,
130
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130 days from today (28 October 2026).
Counting from the day this page was built. Worked out on this device from your entries and its clock: nothing is sent, nothing is stored.
Add 2026 to 2035 to my calendarMother's Day in the UK is Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, which always falls exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday. In 2027 it is Sunday, 7 March 2027, early because Easter is on 28 March 2027. In 2028 it is Sunday, 26 March 2028, and in 2026 it was Sunday, 15 March 2026. Because Easter moves between 22 March and 25 April, Mothering Sunday moves between 1 March and 4 April. The date comes from the Church of England calendar, which names the fourth Sunday of Lent as Mothering Sunday. It began as the day people returned to their mother church, the main church of their area, and became a day for visiting mothers, often with flowers. The American Mother's Day, the second Sunday in May, is a different holiday that most of the world follows, including Australia, Canada and much of Europe, so cards and gifts sent abroad need a different date.
UK Mother's Day against the US date
Mothering Sunday (UK)
7 March 2027
| Mother's Day in the US and most of Europe | 9 May 2027 |
| Gap between the two | 63 days |
| Easter Sunday | 28 March 2027 |
Cards posted from the UK for an American mother go in May, not March.
Rules and dates checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Mothering Sunday, 2026 to 2035
| Year | Date | Day | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 15 March 2026 | Sunday | US date 10 May 2026 |
| 2027 | 7 March 2027 | Sunday | US date 9 May 2027 |
| 2028 | 26 March 2028 | Sunday | US date 14 May 2028 |
| 2029 | 11 March 2029 | Sunday | US date 13 May 2029 |
| 2030 | 31 March 2030 | Sunday | US date 12 May 2030 |
| 2031 | 23 March 2031 | Sunday | US date 11 May 2031 |
| 2032 | 7 March 2032 | Sunday | US date 9 May 2032 |
| 2033 | 27 March 2033 | Sunday | US date 8 May 2033 |
| 2034 | 19 March 2034 | Sunday | US date 14 May 2034 |
| 2035 | 4 March 2035 | Sunday | US date 13 May 2035 |
Where the date comes from
The Church of England calendar lists the fourth Sunday of Lent as Mothering Sunday. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter, and its Sundays are counted from the first one after Ash Wednesday, so the fourth Sunday of Lent is always 21 days before Easter Day. The date therefore depends entirely on Easter, which is set by the tables of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750. The Royal Observatory Greenwich explains why Easter, and with it Mothering Sunday, moves by up to five weeks.
A church festival that became Mother's Day
For centuries the middle Sunday of Lent was a day to visit your mother church, and young people in service were given the day off to go home, which is how it became linked to mothers. The custom had faded by the early twentieth century, when Constance Smith, a vicar's daughter in Nottinghamshire, campaigned to revive it, partly inspired by the new American holiday. By the 1950s Mothering Sunday was widely known as Mother's Day in Britain, while keeping its own date.
Simnel cake, a fruit cake with marzipan, is traditionally linked to Mothering Sunday, although today it is more often eaten at Easter. The Sunday is also known as Laetare Sunday or Refreshment Sunday, a break in the middle of Lent.
Planning for the day
Mothering Sunday is not a bank holiday, because it is a Sunday, but it is one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants and florists. Postal deliveries are not made on Sundays, so cards should be posted by the Thursday before. The simulator under the summary compares the UK date with the American one for any year, useful for anyone with family abroad. Father's Day follows in June, and the Easter page has the dates that set the whole season.
For families split between countries, the difference in dates means two occasions a year. Ireland keeps Mothering Sunday on the same day as the UK; Nigeria and some other Commonwealth countries also mark it in Lent. The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Italy keep the second Sunday in May, and France usually the last Sunday in May. The simulator under the summary gives the UK and American dates side by side for any year to 2035.