By Kim O’Hare
Mother’s Day is one of those events that we observe every year without really paying much attention to its origin. I always thought it was the brainchild of one of the greeting card companies trying to drum up sales during the slow season between Valentine’s Day and Easter. But, once again, my cynical suspicions turned out to be unfounded.
While celebrated in almost every country in the world there are two significantly different origins for the day, one in England and the other in the US. At the outset, Mothering Sunday and Mother’s Day were two distinct festivals with entirely different beginnings.
Mothering Sunday originated in seventeenth-century British culture; Mother’s Day was an American creation in the 19th century. Interestingly enough, the American and English versions morphed during WWII and the day took on new meaning in the post war years.
In England, centuries ago it was considered important for people to return to their home or “mother” church once a year. So each year, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, everyone would visit their “mother” church, or the main church or cathedral of the area.
At that time it was normal for children to leave home for work once they reached the age of ten. Most historians think that it was this annual Lenten theme that led to the custom of working children being given the day off to visit their mother and other family members. As they walked back home along the country lanes on Mothering Sunday, children would pick wild flowers or violets to take to church or give to their mother.
Mothering Sunday was also called Refreshment Sunday, because the fasting rules for Lent were relaxed that day. Often the returning children brought a gift with them, a “mothering cake” - a kind of fruitcake with two layers of marzipan, known as simnel cake (pictured). But, by the 1930s the keeping of many of the old Mothering Sunday customs had lapsed in most English parishes. Although, even today in some Church of England churches, it is the only day in Lent when marriages can be celebrated.
In the United States, Mother’s Day was originally conceived by social activist Julia Ward Howe during the American Civil War with a call to unite women against war. She wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 to unite women against war.
By 1912 a few states passed proclamations to recognize the day and in 1914 it gained federal status. It is customary to plant tomatoes outdoors after mother’s day (and not before.) Julia Ward Howe would likely find it ironic that, just as Mothering day in England was on the verge of extinction, WWII was responsible for it’s reprieve.
In December 1941 the United States entered the war and by the second half of 1942 American servicemen began to arrive in England in large numbers. More airfields were needed and East Anglia’s flat landscape was perfect for runways and new airbases from which the Allies could launch their attack on Germany. Thousands upon thousands of American airmen - many of them outside the United States for the first time - called East Anglia their second home. Altogether nearly half a million American servicemen passed through the region.
Away from their families, these young men were surprised that the English did not have a Mother’s Day. They often regarded their English hostess as a kind of foster-mother and each year on the second Sunday in May they did what they would have done for their own mother - gave her presents and flowers to thank her for her kindness and care of them. The practice took hold and, after the Americans had returned home at the end of the war, the observation of Mother’s Day was entrenched, reverting back to keeping it on the fourth Sunday in Lent.
Mother’s Day has flourished in the past 60 years. It is one of the busiest seasons for postal authorities around the world, it is not unusual for long distance telephone circuits to crash under the strain and even substandard restaurants are at capacity. Of course flourists and chocolate producers benefit as well.
While it is celebrated around the world, there is some variation in dates, which of course can leave the expat with some serious apologizing to do when the date slides by unnoticed. The two most common dates are the second Sunday in May the fourth Sunday in Lent but there are others.
