Who promoted Mother's Day in former Czechoslovakia starting in 1923?

Alice Masaryková promoted Mother’s Day in former Czechoslovakia starting in 1923.

Masaryková was a social worker, politician, and daughter of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. Her advocacy helped introduce the observance in the new republic during the interwar period, when civic organizations and public institutions were developing new traditions after the state’s creation in 1918.

In the Czech Republic today, Mother’s Day is observed on the second Sunday in May. The holiday’s history was interrupted after World War II, when the communist government replaced it in public life with International Women’s Day on March 8. Mother’s Day returned after the Velvet Revolution and continued after Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

Masaryková is sometimes confused with other prominent Czech women, including writer Božena Němcová or resistance figure Milada Horáková. She was not merely connected to her father’s presidency: she was also one of the first women elected to the Czechoslovak parliament in 1919 and became a major figure in social work.