Mothering Sunday

THE European celebration known as 'Mothering Sunday' is now often called Mother's Day in the UK and elsewhere; however its origins differ from the American Mother's Day. Mothering Sunday is originally a Christian festival, which begun as far back as the sixteenth century, when parishioners returned to their 'mother church' on the fourth Sunday in Lent for worship. This inevitably developed into a time for family reunion, and later became the one day a year that young people in domestic service were given the day off. They would return home to visit their mothers, often bringing a simnel cake or flowers as a gift.

Sadly a visit home was not possible for us; however we had fun sifting through photos to create a photo calendar of extended family to send to three sets of grandparents. And we now have a lovely visual reminder of cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents across the sea.