MAMÁ LATINA EN USA: WHICH DAY DO WE CELEBRATE MOTHER’S DAY?

Every year, the dilemma is always the same for Latino millennials: we cross our fingers in hopes that both American and Latin America’s Mother’s Day will land on the same day.

In the U.S. we know that Mother’s Day lands the second Sunday in May, but in most Latin American countries, and definitely in Mexico, Mother’s Day lands on May 10, regardless of the day of the week.

Those years that we are lucky, which are few and far in between, we get to celebrate our precious mamacitas for both holidays in the same day. This year, to our great luck, el 10 de mayo lands the day right after American Mother’s Day. So here is the never-ending dilemma for millennials: do we celebrate both days or only one?

Well, if you’re lucky to have a Latina mom, you know they are unforgiving when it comes to celebrating Mother’s Day and it is very likely that they demand to be celebrated on both days at full speed, and rightfully so. The pandemic has made our wallets more frail than usual, and our identity as Americans may want to push us into celebrating only one of the holidays, so what is there to do?

The perks of being ni de aquí ni de allá is that we can sort of pick and choose when and what holidays we celebrate from the motherland. Much like choosing whether you open your Christmas gifts right at 12am after Noche Buena or the morning of Christmas Day, Mother’s Day is up to your discretion—or your mami’s expectation.

The most popular option is to pick one day to go all out with dining out (which is finally possible this year), music, and perhaps a small family gathering to show your mom all your amor and cariño. While the second day, is reserved for smaller regalitos, a couple of flowers and a phone call that you can’t miss even if you just saw her the day before.

If you’re a millennial mami, then you probably stick with celebrating American Mother’s Day in high gear, but el 10 de mayo still doesn’t go amiss—much like the rest of our Latina moms living in the U.S.

Latinos born from immigrant parents have to learn to navigate the often choppy and shifting cultural waters of living in the U.S. while keeping customs and traditions alive. As the millennial generation grows older, we must choose, and choose wisely, what traditions are to be passed down from our ancestors and which ones will be kept from the place we live and grow.