Mothers of Plaza de Mayo: The Story Behind the White Headscarves
Last Updated on September 27, 2026 by admin
Look at the paving around the Pirámide de Mayo and you will see white headscarves painted on the ground. They are among the most important symbols in modern Argentina.
The scarves represent the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, women who entered the country's principal civic square during the 1976 to 1983 military dictatorship and demanded information about children who had been abducted by the state.
Their action was simple, public and extraordinarily brave.
How the Mothers began
Families searching for missing relatives went from police stations to ministries, courts, churches and hospitals. Officials denied knowledge, refused answers or treated each case as an isolated problem.
The mothers began recognizing one another in those waiting rooms. Azucena Villaflor proposed that they stop searching separately and take their demands to Plaza de Mayo, where the national government could not easily ignore them.
On 30 April 1977, fourteen mothers gathered in the square. The dictatorship's state of siege prohibited public meetings. Police told the women to circulate, so they began walking. The repeated movement around the Pirámide de Mayo became the ronda, the form of protest for which they are known.
They returned on Thursdays. More families joined them.
Why the headscarves are white
The white scarves came a little later. During a pilgrimage to Luján in October 1977, the women needed a way to recognize one another in the crowd. They used white cloth associated with their children's nappies, or diapers.
What began as a practical marker became a symbol of motherhood, absence and public resistance. Names and dates connected individual scarves with individual people who had disappeared.
The symbol remains visible in demonstrations, memorials and the painted circle around the Pyramid.
The risk they faced
The Mothers were not protected by age, gender or international attention. In December 1977, Azucena Villaflor and two other early Mothers were themselves abducted, along with supporters working with the group. Villaflor was murdered by the dictatorship.
The repression did not end the Thursday gatherings. The Mothers continued demanding information about the disappeared, accountability for those responsible and the return of children taken from detained parents.
Their public presence helped make a hidden system of state terror visible inside Argentina and abroad.
Mothers, Grandmothers and later organizations
The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo are related but distinct movements. The Grandmothers focused particularly on locating children who had been abducted or born in captivity and restoring their identities.
The Mothers later developed different organizations and political positions. A short visitor guide cannot responsibly treat those later divisions as one uniform present-day movement. The common starting point remains the search for sons and daughters who disappeared under state terrorism, and the demand for memory, truth and justice.
Understanding the Plaza today
Plaza de Mayo has been Buenos Aires' central political stage since the colonial period. The Casa Rosada, Metropolitan Cathedral and Cabildo surround it, but the painted headscarves make the late-20th-century history impossible to separate from the older monuments.
If you encounter a commemoration or gathering, remember that this is not a performance arranged for visitors. Keep a respectful distance, ask before photographing individuals and allow the event to set its own tone.
The square is part of the full-day route described on the BuenosTours homepage. For independent planning, see our Buenos Aires city center guide and Buenos Aires Guide. Our overview of famous Argentine figures also introduces other people and movements that shaped the country.
The white scarf is easy to recognize. Understanding what it represents requires looking beyond the symbol to the women who kept returning to the square when public truth itself was dangerous.