What Happens On Mothering Sunday?

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 | Women's Interest

Mothering Sunday, which is celebrated in the UK, has some similarities to Mother’s Day in North America but it also has differences. While both holidays honor mothers, and Mother’s Day gifts are given out for both, the holiday in the UK has a religious meaning where Mother’s Day in North America does not.

Mothering Sunday is not always the easiest holiday to keep track of. Rather than being on the same date every year, it changes each time. This holiday is tied to the month of Lent and so you will need to know when Lent begins in order to figure out when Mother’s Day will be. The fourth Sunday of the month of Lent is when this holiday is celebrated, and the Mother’s Day date falls halfway between Good Friday and Shrove Tuesday.

Mothering Sunday history goes back several hundred years. From the history of Mothers Day in the 1600′s, many children were apprenticed or became domestic servants at the young age of ten. Once a year, they were allowed to return home to visit their families and also attend the Mother church. In those days, daughter churches were the ones that you attended when you’d moved far from home. The main origins of the holiday through the Christian church involve the Virgin Mary, who was the mother of Christ. When children are baptized into a church, it thus becomes their Mother church.

Nowadays, Mothering Sunday has kept a few of these traditions alive, but dropped many of the old ones. It is a day when children reconnect with their families if they live far away, and often a trip to church is involved. Some people still make traditional Simnel cakes in honor of the occasion, and they use this day as the chance to refresh themselves after fasting during Lent. Others believe a happy Mother’s Day begins and ends with flowers and a trip out to a restaurant.

So the years have changed how Mothering Sunday is viewed, and it definitely has become more commercialized. Some only refer to this day as Mother’s Day, and will give flowers or chocolates, or even just Mother’s Day cards as a way to show they care. In many parts of the UK, however, especially in those areas where people have a strong religious background, you will see individuals respect the history and past of this day and try to honor the holiday as it was in days of yore.

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