Mothering Sunday

Always a stickler for correctness, my mother insisted it was called Mothering Sunday , a Christian festival, and not Mother's Day as it seems to be increasingly known.

During the sixteenth century people returned to their mother church for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday.  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. 

It was often quite difficult to find a card with the greeting of 'Happy Mothering Sunday' so it is with great sadness that this year that won't be a problem and I won't be popping a card in the post today.

Happy Mothering Sunday, Mum,  and I do miss you so terribly.