Today is Mothering Sunday (really, it isn't called Mother's Day in the UK!). Like most 'holidays' in this country the origin is religious, and now largely forgotten.
Mothering Sunday is a 'moveable feast' (and that almost deserves a whole post to itself). Moveable feasts are those who dates vary according to Easter. Easter itself is calculated by the rule of Computus which I am not even going to attempt to explain... but if you are really interested you can go read about it on Wikipedia! Anyway... I digress. Mothering Sunday is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent (three weeks before Easter) - unlike Mother's Day in the US which is celebrated on the second Sunday in May.
The 'mother' in Mothering Sunday refers not to a person but to the church. The practice was annually to visit ones 'mother' church and thus families would by virtue of this practice be reunited on this Sunday.
However it came about, Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums!
Mothering Sunday is a 'moveable feast' (and that almost deserves a whole post to itself). Moveable feasts are those who dates vary according to Easter. Easter itself is calculated by the rule of Computus which I am not even going to attempt to explain... but if you are really interested you can go read about it on Wikipedia! Anyway... I digress. Mothering Sunday is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent (three weeks before Easter) - unlike Mother's Day in the US which is celebrated on the second Sunday in May.
The 'mother' in Mothering Sunday refers not to a person but to the church. The practice was annually to visit ones 'mother' church and thus families would by virtue of this practice be reunited on this Sunday.
However it came about, Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums!