Mothers Day explained
Mother's Day in the UK is always on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
Also called "Mothering Sunday" it has no connection with the American festival of Mother's Day, other than that as a celebration it had mainly fallen into disuse until the Second World War when the visiting American forces revived British interest in it.
Churchgoers attend their local parish or "daughter" church and centuries ago it was considered important for people to return to their home or "mother" church once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent everyone would visit the main church or Cathedral in the area, and this then became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away could return home.
It was quite common in those days for children to leave home to work once they were ten years old, so it was an important day for apprentices, farm labourers and girls in service who could see their families again, and very often they would pick wild flowers or violets to take to church or give to their mothers as a small gift.
Mother's Day was also known as Refreshment Sunday because the fasting rules for Lent were relaxed for that day and daughters throughout the country would bake Simnel cakes and decorate their mothers' homes with violets, primroses, daffodils and other spring flowers.
