Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday
This is a classic case of two customs becoming confused and rolled into one. For Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent, is regarded by most people in Britain today as Mother’s Day, a celebration which actually started in America and happens there on the second Sunday in May.
It stems from a Philadelphian called Anna Jarvis who, in 1907, set about establishing a special day for mothers and gained official recognition of her wish in 1914. Mother’s Day was the time when red carnations were brought for living mothers and white ones for the dead, and a very popular practice it proved throughout the whole of north America, too. The confusion started when US servicemen, who were stationed in Britain during the Second World War, mixed up Mother’s Day and Mothering Sunday and effectively rekindled our interest in the British tradition…since when it has become a thriving industry.
In Britain, the origins and title of Mothering Sunday are something of a mystery. The epistle on this day, which is essentially on of the breaks in Lent, mentions ‘Jerusalem, the mother of us all’. It was also recognised as the Sunday when the devout would visit the Mother church of the parish to proffer gifts and donations. To confuse matters more, it also was once known as Refreshment Day, recalling Christ’s feeding of the five-thousand. The most likely reason for the existence of the British version is that, since the 17th century, this was the day on which apprentices and servants were given leave to visit their mothers, bearing gifts and flowers, usually trinkets or violets and primroses from the hedgerow.
This page is part of our Beginners’ Guide: British Folk Customs From Plough Monday to Hocktide.
