Next Sunday, May 30th, Nicaragua celebrates Mother’s Day (Día de las Madres). In Nicaragua, it’s a fixed date, no matter what day of the week it falls on. In this regard, Nicaragua is currently the only country in the world that designates May 30th as Mother’s Day in this way. However, this year Nicaragua will be joined by several countries that celebrate their Mother’s Day on the last Sunday in May which happens to be May 30th.
Anyone researching Mother’s Day in Nicaragua, in particular the reason why it’s always on May 30th will undoubtedly come across several stories about Mother’s Day and the dictator Anastasio Somoza García (officially the 21st President of Nicaragua). The story is now engrained in the internet forever and states that it was Somoza who decided that Mother’s Day in Nicaragua would be on the 30th of May. The story usually claims that Somoza decreed it to be so “In honor of his mother-in-law; Mrs. Casimira Sacasa, born on that day”.
Those researchers lucky enough to fall on the Google entry from the Academy of Geography and History of Nicaragua (The AGHN) will have discovered the truth.
After an investigation, the AGHN published their findings on June 7th 2011. They determined that yes, Anastasio Somoza García did in fact make such a decree about the date; however it was not for the reason a lot of people have been led to believe.
They cited the birth and death registries for Mrs. Casimira Sacasa which revealed that she was in fact born on January 18, 1872 and the registry entry of her death shows June 28th, 1953.
The AGHN were therefore satisfied that as neither her birth date or the date of her passing (dates that would customarily be used in an individual’s commemoration) were not on May 30th, the decree by Somoza creating Mother’s day on that day had nothing to do with his mother-in-law; Mrs. Casimira Sacasa.
The AGHN also cited evidence of a written article “The Cult of the Mother” in which it describes that in 1939, a group of ladies and gentlemen had gathered in Santo Domingo Park in Managua on the 30th of May for a Mass to celebrate Mother’s Day. This also proves that Mother’s Day was already in existence in Nicaragua on that day, prior to the so called dedication by Somoza.
Notes:
1) The La Gaceta (Official Gazette of Nicaragua), No. 72, of March 26th, 1977, published that Mother’s Day was changed to the “Last Sunday in May”.
2) Then in the Official Gazette, No. 128, of June 7, 1980, it was restored to the original date of May 30th by the new government who published Decree 430 of May 24, 1980, which ordered the restitution.
