mothering sunday started in the uk in 1940.
mothering sunday started in the uk in 1940.
when did mothering sunday start in the uk?
1940
during the 16th century, people returned to their mother church for a service which was held on laetare sunday; in this context, one's "mother church" was either the church where one was baptized, the local parish church, or the nearest cathedral (the latter being the mother church of all the parish churches in a diocese). anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone "a-mothering", although whether this term preceded the observance of 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 entire families could gather together, since on other days they were prevented from doing so by conflicting working hours.
mothering sunday
the custom was still popular by the start of the 19th century, but with the industrial revolution, traditions changed and the mothering day customs declined. by 1935, mothering sunday was less celebrated in europe. constance penswick-smith worked unsuccessfully to revive the festival in the 1910s–1920s. however, us world war ii soldiers brought the us mother's day celebration to the uk, and the holiday was merged with the mothering sunday traditions still celebrated in the church of england. by the 1950s, the celebration became popular again in the whole of the uk, thanks to the efforts of uk merchants, who saw in the festival a great commercial opportunity. people from uk started celebrating mother's day on the fourth sunday of lent, the same day on which mothering sunday had been celebrated for centuries. some mothering sunday traditions were revived, such as the tradition of eating cake on that day, although celebrants now eat simnel cake instead of the cakes that were traditionally prepared at that time. the traditions of the two holidays are now mixed together and celebrated on the same day, although many people are not aware that the festivities have quite separate origins.
mother's day