2 minute read
Mothering Sunday
The history of Mothering Sunday
Celebrating Mother’s Day by giving cards, gifts and flowers or enjoying a special meal is an eagerly awaited experience for many families.
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As we look forward to Mother’s Day 2020 on Sunday, March 22, let’s reflect on the history of Mothering Sunday. During the 16th century, people returned to their mother church for a service. This was either the church where you were baptised, the local parish church or the nearest cathedral.
Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone “a-mothering”, although whether this term preceded the observance of Mothering Sunday is unclear.
In later times, it became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother church, usually with their own mothers and other family members, and was often the only time that entire families could get together.
Children and young people who worked as household servants were given a day off so they could visit their families. The children often picked wildflowers along the way either to place in the church or to give to their mothers. Eventually, the religious tradition evolved into the secular one of giving gifts.
By the 1920s the custom of keeping Mothering Sunday had tended to lapse in Ireland and in continental Europe. In 1914, inspired by Anna Jarvis’ efforts in the United States, Constance Penswick-Smith created the Mothering Sunday Movement, and in 1921 she wrote a book advocating the revival of the festival.
The traditions of Mothering Sunday, still practised by the Church of England and Church of Ireland, were merged with the newly imported traditions and celebrated in the wider Catholic and secular society. By the 1950s, it was celebrated widely across the UK.
Unlike the UK and Ireland, where Mother’s Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent, in most countries it is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. These countries include the USA, Canada, most European countries, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, the Philippines and South Africa.
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