9 Restaurants Around Napa Valley To Take Mom On Mexican Mother’s Day

NAPA VALLEY, CA — Mother’s Day is an important holiday in Mexico, but unlike in the United States, where the celebration consistently falls on the second Sunday in May, Mexican Mother’s Day, or “El Dia de la Madre,” always takes place on May 10. That’s on a Wednesday this year, and there are plenty of Mexican restaurants in Napa Valley to have lunch with Mom.

El Día de la Madre is a celebration first of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a powerful symbol of Mexican identity and faith, and second, a celebration of mothers and motherhood.

“Mexicans are very attached to family, not like in the United States, where they throw the kids out of the house at age 18,” radio host Maxine Woodside said in a 2012 interview with The Washington Post. “Here we see men in their 40s who still live with their mothers, and why not? Their moms still do their laundry.”

Feasts featuring signature cuisines such as mole, pozole, enchiladas, sopes, quesadillas, beef barbacoa and other traditional recipes are a big part of Mexican Mother’s Day. Here are some highly rated places in and near the Napa Valley to treat your mother:

Don Perico Mexican Restaurant, 1106 1st Street, Napa

Los Agaves Napa, 660 Main St., Napa

Napa C Casa, 610 First St., Napa

Frida's Mexican Grill, 1533 Trancas St., Napa

La Hacienda Taqueira, 1851 Old Sonoma Road, Napa

La Casa Restaurant and Bar, 121 E. Spain St., Sonoma

El Molino Central, 11 Central Ave., Sonoma

Or venture across the bay to either of these San Francisco Mexican restaurants that made it onto Thrillist's list of "The 43 Best Mexican Restaurants in America":

Californio's, 355 11th St., SF

Tommy's Mexican Restaurant, 5929 Geary Blvd., SF

Giving Mom the short shrift on El Dia de la Madre is unheard of in Mexico, where lunches can easily last five hours, according to The Washington Post. Mothers in Mexico are traditionally the ones who do the cooking and other housework, and Mexican Mother’s Day is set aside to let others do the cooking for them.

Even though Mother’s Day in Mexico has only been a holiday for a little more than a century, in pre-Columbian times Mexican society was built around powerful matriarchs, according to the travel website Pin and Travel.

Parade reported that, according to tradition, children in Mexico often gather outside the house on the morning of El Dia de la Madre to serenade Mom with traditional songs such as “Las Mañanitas,” whose lyrics translate to “Because today is your day, we’ve come to sing for you.” Sometimes, the song is accompanied by a full mariachi band.

Another traditional song is “Las Mañanitas” or “The Dawn,” which is also Mexico’s birthday song, whose lyrics include:

“Awaken, my dear, awaken
and see that the day has dawned
now the little birds are singing
and the moon has set.”