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Mothers Day

Mothering Sunday and Mothers Day

Mothering Sunday is a Christian festival celebrated throughout Europe. It's used as a celebration of motherhood, and is synonymous with Mother's Day as celebrated in other countries.
A religious festival celebrating motherhood has been existent in Europe since neolithic times. In the Roman religion the festival was in honour of the mother goddess Cybele and it took place during mid-March. As the Roman Empire and Europe converted to Christianity, Mothering Sunday celebrations became part of the liturgical calendar as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and the "mother church".
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. Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone "a-mothering", although whether this preceded the term Mothering Sunday is unclear. It was often the only time that whole families could gather together, if prevented by conflicting working hours.
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."
The other names attributed to this festival include Simnel Sunday, Refreshment 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 lightening 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 Mothering Sunday as well, as is witnessed by the purple robes of Lent being replaced in some churches by rose-coloured ones. This title refers to the tradition of posies of flowers being collected and distributed at the service originally to all the mothers, but latterly to all women in the congregation.
The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, however, 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'."
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).
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.
In later times, Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mothers and other family members.
Mothering Sunday remains in the calendar of some Canadian Anglican churches, particularly those with strong English connections.

The modern Mother's Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, as a day to honor mothers and motherhood; especially within the context of families, and family relationships.
It is now celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, often in May, some of which have a much older tradition than the modern holiday (e.g. dating to the 16th century in the UK).
The holiday eventually became so commercialized that many, including its founder, Anna Jarvis, considered it a "Hallmark Holiday", i.e. one with an overwhelming commercial purpose. Anna eventually ended up opposing the holiday she had helped to create. In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association.
"She was specific about the location of the apostrophe; it was to be a singular possessive, for each family to honour their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world."
This is also the spelling used by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in the law making official the holiday in the U.S., by the U.S. Congress on bills, and by other U.S. presidents on their declarations.
Common usage in English language also dictates that the ostensibly singular possessive "Mother's Day" is the preferred spelling, although "Mothers' Day" (plural possessive) is not unheard of.
As the US holiday was adopted by other countries and cultures, the date was changed to fit already existing celebrations honouring motherhood, like Mothering Sunday in the UK or the Orthodox celebration of Jesus in the temple in Greece. In some countries it was changed to dates that were significant to the majoritary religion, like the Virgin Mary day in Catholic countries, or the birthday of the daughter of prophet Muhammad in Islamic countries.
Other countries changed it to historical dates, like Bolivia using the date of a certain battle where women participated.

Perfect for Mothers Day

The Slanket is a gigantic fleece blanket with arms, so you can hold cups of tea, pick your nose use the remote, or the phone, or use your laptop! Great for those who feel the cold or are trying to keep the heating bills low; feel cosy and warm under a lightweight Slanket. Take the Slanket on long car journeys or cosy up to a scary movie.

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