Mother’s Day has ancient beginnings and a good place to start is with the Romans, who honoured Cybele (the Great Mother).

She was the goddess of nature, fertility, mountains and wild animals. Raucous celebrations were held in spring, which included games, feasts, sacrifices and eunuchs.

The early Christians held a celebration on the fourth Sunday of Lent for the Virgin Mary, although with less sacrifices and eunuchs. This was called Mothering Sunday and it’s still part of the Catholic tradition.

The modern celebration of Mother's Day grew out of calls for peace after the American Civil War (1861-65). The writer and women's rights activist, Julia Ward Howe, wanted women to unite and bring peace throughout the world.

The idea didn’t take off until 1908, when Anna Marie Jarvis, an American woman, held a church memorial to honour the legacy of her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, a pacifist and abolitionist.

Anna pushed to have a day set aside to honour all mothers. Her campaign paid off when in 1914, US president Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day.

Mother’s Day was captured by commercial interests in the 1920s in favour of a more benign celebration of mothers, with breakfast in bed, a card and a red rose.

The Suffragette vision of women rising as a political class with important political and social roles to play outside the home was bypassed - but not forgotten by women in the 1960s and 70s.

UK Suffragettes in action

It wasn’t until 1924, following the slaughter of World War I, that the first Mother's Day was held in Australia.

Sydney woman Janet Heyden started the tradition after seeing so many poor and lonely women in the Newington State Hospital. Many were left widows after the Great War.

Historian and Emeritus Professor Richard Waterhouse from Sydney University says Christmas Day, Easter Sunday and Mother's Day, still bring people together.

“In a secular society, those days have lost their importance as occasions for religious celebrations but (they) are still significant for the purpose of family gatherings,” Professor Richard Waterhouse says.

“Mother’s Day will continue to be important but the role of mothers will be celebrated in different ways. Women are no longer regarded as the moral guardians of the home but equal workplace participants with their husbands.”

“Mother's Day is not just about thanking women for their domestic contributions to families but also their wider contribution as wage earners and equal partners in family life.”