Bolivia celebrates Mother’s Day on May 27 to commemorate the Battle of La Coronilla.
The battle took place on May 27, 1812, near Cochabamba during the Bolivian War of Independence. Women and other defenders gathered at San Sebastián hill, also known as La Coronilla, to resist royalist forces after much of the local patriotic army had withdrawn.
The defenders were defeated and many were killed. Their resistance later became a national symbol of courage, sacrifice, and opposition to Spanish colonial rule. Bolivia’s Mother’s Day therefore has a specifically historical and patriotic origin rather than following the second-Sunday-in-May pattern used in the United States and several other countries.
The date was established by Bolivian law in 1927, during the presidency of Hernando Siles Reyes. It is commonly called Día de la Madre Boliviana, or Bolivian Mother’s Day, and schools traditionally hold commemorative activities.