Mother’s Day in Mexico is called Día de las Madres in Spanish. It’s held on May 10th every year. The evening of the 9th is also important. Grown children are expected to spend the evening before Mother’s Day with their Moms too.

Many Mexican mothers wake up to their children singing Las Mañanitas to them. Las Mañanitas is a song that’s also sung on birthdays.

Here are the lyrics to Las Mañanitas in Spanish, with an English translation and an mp3 so you can hear it sung…

MP3 of Las Mañanitas

Las Mañanitas

Éstas son las mañanitas
Que cantaba el rey David
Y en el día de tu santo
Te las cantamos a ti.

Despierta mi bien despierta
mira que ya amaneció
Ya los pajaritos cantan
La luna ya se metió

English Translation:

These are the little mornings,
That King David used to sing,
And on the Day of your Saint,
We sing them to you.

Wake up, my dear, wake up!
Look, it’s already dawning,
The little birds are already singing,
The moon has gone away.

Finally, according to Karen Hursh Graber of the site Mexican Hot or …Not, “One of the most charming customs of all is that practiced in many Mexican churches, the early morning singing of Las Mañanitas and distribution of tamales and atole to all the local moms.”

Atole is a special Mexican hot chocolate.

You can visit Karen’s page for recipes of some of the foods made for Mother’s Day breakfast in Mexico.

You can visit my Mexican Song Pages for a long version of Las Mañanitas and other Mexican songs.

Many thanks to Celia Andrés for singing Las Mañanitas for us!

Here are some other posts about Mother’s Day, including some Spanish poems: