# Mother's Day and Birthday May 13th **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2001, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mothers-day-and-birthday-may-13th/65073 "2001-05-11T06:15:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![angelbaby43\_chicago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@angelbaby43\_chicago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angelbaby43_chicago)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mothers-day-and-birthday-may-13th/65073/1 "2001-05-11T06:15:41Z")
Can anyone tell me if they ever remember Mother’s Day falling on the 13th of May. I will be 43 years old this year on Mother’s Day, and I don’t ever remember it falling on this day. I thought that because of the way leap year fell, that it was impossible for the 13th to be the second Sunday in May. ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mothers-day-and-birthday-may-13th/65073/2 "2001-05-11T09:04:18Z")
I feel this thread heading to General Questions. Anyhoo, in the last couple of decades Mother’s Day did fall on May 13 - in 1984 and 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mothers-day-and-birthday-may-13th/65073/3 "2001-05-11T09:52:20Z")
GQ it is. Even though it’s been partially answered already. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mothers-day-and-birthday-may-13th/65073/4 "2001-05-11T17:04:45Z")
Mother’s Day will always fall on the 13th when the May first falls on a Tuesday. The only effect that the leap year has is that the day-of-week that a particular date falls on shifts by two days instead of one. Since leap years are on a 4 year schedule, and weeks are seven days long, leap years do not prohibit any particular day-of-week combination. My birthday falls exactly one week before yours and I can tell you at least one other year that your birthday fell on a Sunday - 1962, I was a Sunday child. Happy Birthday! ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mothers-day-and-birthday-may-13th/65073/5 "2001-05-11T19:13:25Z")
Why is Mothers Day in May in the USA ? . In the UK we have Mothering Sunday (or Mothers Day ) as the fourth Sunday in Lent. I think the custom is connected with Jesus visiting his mother just before his entry into Jeruselem.So is the US Mothers Day just another date dreamed up by the greeting card makers ,like Fathers Day, Gradmothers Day etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mothers-day-and-birthday-may-13th/65073/6 "2001-05-12T03:18:33Z")
I could have sworn Cecil had addressed this issue, but I couldn’t find it in the Archives. I did find this through a Google search: [http://www.theholidayspot.com/mothersday/history/index.htm](http://www.theholidayspot.com/mothersday/history/index.htm) By the way, I have on brother born on May 13th, and another born on May 8th, and I can assure you I never missed an opportunity to tease either of them if Mother’s Day happened to fall on their birthdays. (Imagine an obnoxious four-year-old chanting in a sing-song voice “Michael is a mother! Michael is a mother!” and you’ve pretty much got it.) – Beruang