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The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back
to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honour of
Rhea, the Mother of the Gods.
The Romans called their
version of the event the Hilaria, and celebrated on the Ides
of March by making offerings in the temple of Cybele, the
Mother of the Gods. Ceremonies in her honour began some 250
years before Christ was born.
God could not be everywhere,
so he made mothers – Jewish proverb.
During the 1600's, England
celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday", celebrated
on the 4th Sunday of Lent.
Mothering Sunday was a
time put aside for relaxation and enjoyment during the long
Lenten fast. In olden days, young servant girls who worked
away from home were given time off by their masters to visit
their mothers on this special day and they would bake a simnel
cake to present as a gift.
In an age when children
as young as ten left home to take up work or apprenticeships
elsewhere, this was often the only day in the whole year when
families would be reunited. By the 17th century, it had become
a public holiday, when servants and apprentices were given
the day off so that they could fulfil their duties to the
Church.
"I remember my mother's
prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung
to me all my life" - Abraham Lincoln
Another explanation states
that centuries ago it was considered important for people
to return to their home or "mother" church once
a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would
visit their "mother" church, or the main church
or Cathedral of the area.
Another popular ceremony
on this day was church-clipping (meaning to clasp or tightly
grip the church), when people would express their love for
their house of worship by forming a circle and walking round
the building holding hands. It has been suggested that this
custom was pagan in origin but it seems more likely it was
a symbolic act of friendship and love.
Eventually, the return
to the "mother" church became an occasion for family
reunions when children who were working away returned home.
Sometimes furmety was
served - wheat grains boiled in sweet milk, sugared and spiced.
In northern England and
in Scotland, the preferred refreshments were carlings - pancakes
made of steeped pease fried in butter, with pepper and salt.
In fact, in some locations this day was called Carling Sunday.
"There was never
a great man who had not a great mother" - Oliver Schreiner
Earlier traditions saw
Simnel Cake being eaten on Mothering Sunday, but it soon became
customary to keep the cake until Easter Sunday.
This rich fruit cake
was said to test the girl's skills as a cook. If it remained
moist and maintained its taste until Easter Sunday, she was
seen as a good cook.
Mothering Sunday was
also referred to as Refreshment Sunday due to the relaxing
of the rules for Lent on that particular day.
The name simnel is derived
from the old French word simenel via the Latin term used to
describe the finest flour for baking cakes, simila.
Simnel cake is a rich
fruitcake covered with a thick layer of almond paste or icing,
and decorated with eleven small balls of almond paste - made
to signify all the apostles except Judas.
Originally, the crust
was occasionally made from a mixture of flour and water, which
was coloured with saffron.
The earliest simnel cakes
were more akin to biscuits due to their size and thinness.
Another tradition was
to engrave a figure of Jesus in the centre of the cake with
the 11 or 12 paste balls surrounding the image.
Traditionally these cakes
were also decorated with fresh flowers, although these days
most cooks use crystallized flowers - such as violets and
primroses - or fluffy chicks and coloured eggs.
An early mention of Simnel,
dated early 1200s, appears in the history of the village of
Comberton. A manor was given to Erchenger, the baker, who
had to provide a hot simnel loaf to the King each morning
in return.
Another tradition states
that Mothering Sunday (or Mid-Lent Sunday as it is also known)
commemorates the banquet given by Joseph to his brethren.
“A mother is a
person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five
people, promptly announces she never did care for pie”.
~ Tenneva Jordan
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Denmark, Finland, Italy,
Turkey, Australia, and Belgium also celebrate Mother's Day
on the second Sunday of May.
Two years after her mother's
death (1907) Anna Jarvis and her friends began a letter-writing
campaign to gain the support of influential ministers, businessmen
and congressmen in declaring a national Mother's Day holiday.
She felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother
enough while the mother was still alive and hoped that Mother's
Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family
bonds.
The first Mother's Day
observance in the US was a church service honouring Mrs. Anna
Reese Jarvis on May 10, 1908.
The traditional US Mother's
Day flower is a carnation, either pink carnations given to
mothers to represent love for them, or white carnations worn
in respect for those mothers who are no longer living.
“The moment a child
is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before.
The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something
absolutely new” - Rajneesh
In the USA, by 1911 Mother's
Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow
Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming
Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each
year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
By then other areas celebrating
Mother's Day included Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South
America and Africa.
In Argentina, Mother’s
Day falls on the second Sunday in October
“Making the decision
to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have
your heart go walking around outside your body” - Elizabeth
Stone
The Mother's Day International
Association was incorporated on December 12, 1912, with the
purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mother's
Day.
Norway observes Mother's
Day on the second Sunday in February.
Lebanon celebrates Mother's
Day on the first day of spring.
"My mother was the
most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother.
I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual
and physical education I received from her" - George
Washington
In Serbia, Mother's Day
is called "Materice", and it is observed two weeks
before Christmas. On "Materice" boys and girls tiptoe
into their mother's bedroom very early in the morning and
tie her up. When she awakens, she is surprised to find herself
all tied up, and she begs the children to untie her, promising
to give them little gifts which she has hidden under her pillow.
In India, the Hindu people
celebrate a ten-day festival called Durga Puja early in October.
It is to honour Durga, the Divine Mother. Durga is the most
important of all Hindu goddesses in India.
“Women's liberation
is just a lot of foolishness. It's the men who are discriminated
against. They can't bear children. And no one is likely to
do anything about that” - Golda Meir
In both Spain and Portugal,
Mother's Day is closely linked to the church. The eighth of
December is the day that tribute is paid to the Virgin Mary,
Mother of Jesus.
Mother's Day in France
is celebrated much like a family birthday, and it occurs on
the last Sunday in May. The entire extended family gathers
around the family dining table for dinner, and at the end
of the meal a beautiful cake is presented to the mother.
“My mother had
a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it”
- Mark Twain
Sweden also has a family
holiday on the last Sunday in May. Shortly before Mother's
Day the Swedish Red Cross sells tiny plastic flowers. The
money from these "Mother's Flowers" is used to give
vacations to mothers with many children.
“Sooner or later
we all quote our mothers” - Bern Williams
In Japan, Mother's Day
is celebrated on the second Sunday in May as it is in North
America. Exhibits of pictures, drawn by children between the
ages of six and fourteen and called “My Mother”,
are entered into a "travelling exhibit." This exhibit
is held every four years, and it travels to many different
countries. By looking at the pictures, boys and girls learn
how children live in other parts of the world.
"A mother is she
who can take the place of all others but whose place no one
else can take" - Cardinal Mermillod
In a revival of a ceremony
dating from Tudor times, young people still receive flowers
and Simnel cakes at a service in the Chapel Royal at the Tower
of London. In Tudor England, daughters would also decorate
their mother's homes with violets, primroses, daffodils and
other spring flowers. They would often prepare egg custard,
comfits, lambs' tails, white sugar sweets, fig pies and wafers,
and give their mothers nosegays of wild flowers that had been
blessed in church.
"Mothers all want
their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want
them to become politicians in the process" - John Fitzgerald
Kennedy
Mother's
Day Flowers
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Mother's day including free UK delivery, personal message
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