Mother's Day is Sunday, but Friday is Dia de las Madres

Grace Palmieri
The Republic | azcentral.com
A woman and child look over flowers for Mother's Day.

Maria Miranda will celebrate today like the only thing that matters is her mom. 

Celebrating her mother is an important part of their Mexican heritage, and today is one of the biggest days of the year. 

She’ll take her mom for a manicure and pedicure. She’ll buy her flowers — lots of them. She and her sisters will help prepare an elaborate dinner of tamales, pozole and enchiladas. 

May 10 marks the holiday Dia de las Madres, which many in the Southwest and California refer to as Mexican Mother’s Day — often filled with flowers, large family gatherings and community celebrations. Mother's Day is always celebrated May 10 in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, unlike in the U.S., where the holiday falls on the second Sunday of May. 

In Mexico, Miranda said, the streets are jammed with traffic. Many businesses close down with only certain restaurants remaining open. Mariachi music and singing fill the city. 

It’s one of two days each year that the mother is the focal point in the Latin American culture. The other is Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration a religious holiday commemorating the appearance of a vision of the Virgin Mary to the peasant Juan Diego in Mexico. 

“It’s important to celebrate mothers because they are the building blocks of the family and they are the teachers,” said Miranda, who is the assistant director of the Arizona Latino Arts and Culture Center.

Mother’s Day can take days of preparation, Miranda says. 

“It’s very custom for the children to — it doesn’t matter the age of the child, it could be 5, it could be 40 — they make a lot of homemade goods,” she said.

This year, Mexican Mother’s Day falls on the same weekend as American Mother’s Day, making for a hectic few days.

“It’s kind of a stressful weekend because you have your Latino heritage, but we’re also members of this American society,” Miranda said. “The moms here are also expecting a second Mother's Day.”

So on Sunday, they’ll celebrate all over again.

Dia de las Madres

Carmen Guerrero, the president and executive director of Cultural Coalition in Phoenix, was born and raised in Recife, Brazil. In her family, Mother's Day was always a family-wide celebration as aunts and uncles and cousins crowded around the table for Sunday roast.

This Sunday, as she does every year, she’ll join a big congregation at her church in Mesa. Afterward there will be mariachi, tacos and ice cream.

“And then after Mass, we go outside, and we eat, we sing and party,” Guerrero said.

Guerrero moved to the U.S. for college. While in school, she traveled to Mexico, where she met her husband. They moved back to the Valley, where they’ve lived ever since, and raised three children who are now grown.

Her younger son and daughter, who now live in Los Angeles, are traveling home this weekend to celebrate the holiday, though her oldest son won’t make it home from Australia, where he lives with his family.

Tonight, Guerrero’s husband is taking her out to dinner to celebrate “the Mexican way.”

“I think the best thing about Mother's Day is the music, the flowers and all the nice feelings that come out,” Guerrero said. “We live in a world where everybody tends to be mean to each other, and I appreciate that we have a day that we try to be nice and think about good things.”

On Friday morning, Guerrero went to check her Facebook page. The first thing that popped up was a reminder of a post from one year ago today.

She was in California with her family, celebrating her daughter’s graduation from USC.

“It’s like a gift, being a mom and being at my daughter’s graduation, on Mother’s Day,” she said.

Laura Carrillo holds her niece while helping to sell Mother's Day flowers.

Mexican Mother’s Day events

The Arizona Latino Arts and Culture Center is celebrating with a Mother’s Day Market (Mercado Del Dia De Madres). The celebration began Wednesday and concludes 4-10 p.m. on Friday inside the center.

There will be local vendors, artists, an open bar, snacks and music.