| 2004 | 21 March |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 6 March |
| 2006 | 26 March |
| 2007 | 18 March |
| 2008 | 2 March |
| 2009 | 22 March |
| 2010 | 14 March |
| 2011 | 3 April |
| 2012 | 18 March |
| 2013 | 10 March |
| 2014 | 30 March |
| 2015 | 15 March |
| 2016 | 6 March |
Mothering Sunday is a Christian festival celebrated throughout Europe that falls on the 4th Sunday in Lent. Secularly it became a celebration of motherhood.[1] It is increasingly being called Mother's Day, although in countries other than the UK and Ireland that holiday has other origins.[1] In the UK it is considered synonymous with Mother's Day as celebrated in other countries.
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In the Roman religion the Hilaria festival was held in honour of the mother goddess Cybele and it took place during mid-March. As the Roman Empire and Europe converted to Christianity, this celebration became part of the liturgical calendar as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and the "mother church".[2]
During the sixteenth century, people returned to their mother church for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday. This was either a large local church, or more often the nearest Cathedral.[1] Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone "a-mothering", although whether this preceded the term Mothering Sunday is unclear. In later times, Mothering Sunday 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. It was often the only time that whole families could gather together, since on other days they were prevented by conflicting working hours, or, more usually, since holidays had not been invented yet, that was the only day in the year that they were allowed off.[3]
By the 1920s, the custom of keeping Mothering Sunday had tended to lapse in Ireland and in continental Europe.[2] In 1914, inspired by Ann Jarvis' efforts, Constance Penswick-Smith created the Mothering Sunday Movement,[4] and in 1921 she wrote a book asking for the revival of the festival; Constance was the daughter of the vicar of Coddington, Nottinghamshire, and there is a memorial in Coddington's church.[5][6] Its widescale revival was through the influence of American and Canadian soldiers serving abroad during World War II; the traditions of Mothering Sunday, still practiced 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.[2][7][8] UK-based merchants saw the commercial opportunity in the holiday and relentlessly promoted it in the UK; by the 1950s it was celebrated across all the UK.[7]
People from Ireland and the UK started celebrating Mother's Day, but on the same day that Mothering Sunday was celebrated, the fourth Sunday in Lent.[2] The two celebrations have now been mixed up, and many people think that they are the same thing.[3]
Mothering Sunday remains in the calendar of some Canadian Anglican churches, particularly those with strong English connections.
The other names attributed to this festival include Refreshment Sunday, Pudding Pie Sunday (in Surrey, England), Mid-Lent Sunday.[9] Simnel Sunday and Rose Sunday. Simnel Sunday is named after the practice of baking Simnel cakes to celebrate the reuniting of families during the austerity of Lent. Because there is traditionally a relaxation of Lenten vows on this particular Sunday in celebration of the fellowship of family and church, the lesser-used label of Refreshment Sunday is also used, although rarely today.
Rose Sunday is sometimes used as an alternative title for Laetare Sunday, as is witnessed by the purple robes of Lent being replaced in some churches by rose-coloured ones. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia asserts that "the Golden Rose, sent by the Popes to Catholic sovereigns, used to be blessed at this time, and for this reason the day was sometimes called 'Dominica de Rosa'."[10][11]
This Sunday was also once known as "the Sunday of the Five Loaves", from the traditional Gospel reading for the day. Prior to the adoption of the modern "common" lectionaries, the Gospel reading for this Sunday in the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Western-Rite Orthodox, and Old Catholic churches was the story of the feeding of the five thousand (for instance, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer stipulates St John's Gospel 6:5-14).
The Epistle for the fourth Sunday in Lent as set out in the Book of Common Prayer gives a special place to the theme of maternal love: Galatians 4:26 states that "Jerusalem which is above is free; which is Mother of us all."[1]
Another tradition associated with Mothering Sunday is the practice of "clipping the church", whereby the congregation form a ring around their church building and, holding hands, embrace it.
For some Church of England churches, it is the only day in Lent when marriages can be celebrated.
During the church services held in that day, it is traditional that children will give a bunch of spring flowers to their mothers.[9]
Celebrations of mothers and motherhood occur throughout the world; many of these have histories can be traced back to ancient festivals. The origins of Mothering Sunday can be tracked back to these festivals.
There is evidence of mother goddess worship in the ancient world, dating back as far as 6.000 BC,[14]:376 and many mother goddess shrines could be found in ancient times in Asia minor.[14]:372
Ancient Greece imported the Mother Goddess cult from Asia Minor, in the form of a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. It was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor. Originally they identified Cybele with Rhea, the mother of gods. The details were not recorded, and we only know that the goddess was attended by galli.[14]:374[15]
Ancient Romans appropriated the cult to Cybele/Rhea in order to absorb culturally the Greeks and the habitants of Asia Minor, honoring Cybele in the Hilaria festivals, from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.[14]:371–375 But the Romans were horrified by the Greek celebrations; they quickly associated the cult to the Roman version of Cybele and they made up their own customs.[14]:373 They also made a separate festival in April dedicated to Magna Deorum Mater Idaea, a version of Cybele that was even further separated from Greek customs.[14]:373 The two goddesses, Cybele and Mater Idaea, were eventually merged into a single entity that was completely Romanized, although they kept using galli.[14]:374–375
The festivals of Cybele evolved into the Christian festival of Mothering Sunday, honouring the Virgin Mary and your mother church (the main church of the area)[16] It's now a long standing tradition, part of the liturgical calendar in several Christian denominations, including Anglicans, and in the Catholic calendar it is marked as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent. Children and young people who were "in service" (servants in richer households) were given a day off on that date so they could visit their families (or, originally, return to their "mother" church). The children would pick wild flowers along the way to place them in the church or to give them to their mothers as gifts. Eventually, the religious tradition evolved into a secular tradition of giving gifts to mothers.[1] This festival survived in the UK and Ireland for longer than in other European countries, and it was repopularised in the 20th Century. Most people are unaware of its historical origins, and regard Mothering Sunday and Mother's Day as the one and same festival.[3]
Ancient romans had a different unrelated holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno; it was intended to favor the fertility of married women.[17] Married women, independently of whether they were mothers or not, made private parties where they prayed for happiness in their marriages and prepared dishes for their female slaves. The husbands gave money and gifts to their wives and prayed for their pregnancy. It was complemented by the Saturnalia festival, where male slaves were given freedom and wives gave presents to their husbands.[18][19] It was celebrated when the harvests were planted.