Mother’s Day – origin and tradition

Dear friends,

Training Center ‘’ Raya’’ – London is not only a place where you can learn and improve your English, but also a place where you can be informed about interesting and useful facts about the history, culture, and traditions of the United Kingdom.

Follow our articles and switch between the two language versions! Thus, you will see the features of the translation, which, in turn, will help you in mastering English language. Also learn new and interesting things about the country you have chosen to live in!

Mother’s Day in the UK, like many other traditions, has its roots in the religion and customs of Great Britain.

The date of this holiday is different every year- it is the fourth Sunday of Easter Lent and has been celebrated since the Middle Ages in England, Ireland, and some states within the British Empire. The beginning is laid with the permission of all workers away from home, domestic servants, hired workers or apprentices to visit on this day, originally called Mothering Sunday, the church in which they were baptized or so-called “Mother Church”. When returning to their homeland and to their church, they also spend time with their family and enjoyed the day . The meeting with the mother was touching and emotional, and through her the holiday acquires a double meaning-symbolic and religious, including the Christian mother – the Church and the heartfelt meeting with their own mother.

The workers who returned to their homes, many of whom were still children, went through fields and forests and brought bouquets of wildflowers to their mothers, picked up along the way. So, the holiday is associated with a gift for the mother, most often flowers.

On Mother’s Sunday, fasting is not so strict, and a special cake is made called simnel. It contains fruit and marzipan and pleases those who are fasting. This Sunday is also called Sunday Simnel.

Over time, Mother’s Sunday was associated with another day celebrated at different times in different countries – Mother’s Day (which we Bulgarians celebrate on March 8). This holiday became more popular back in 1907, when the daughter of a peace fighter who treated the wounded in the Civil War in the United States of America, Ana Jarvis, launched a campaign to pay tribute to mothers. The campaign had such a wide resonance that in 1914 this day became an official holiday in the United States by decree of President Woodrow Wilson. When the holiday eventually reached the United Kingdom, the name Mother’s Day changed to Mother’s Sunday.

The most famous flower for the mother’s holiday is the violet. On this day, the children collected bouquets of violets as a gift for their mothers. With urbanization and the absence of flower clearings, the church prepared bouquets of violets in the cities that the children would bring home.

This year, Mother’s Day in the UK falls on March 27. And although it becomes more and more commercial over time, its meaning remains – to pay tribute to the efforts and love of the mother.

Dear friends of our Training Centre, we wish you a merry holiday, a lot of joy and health! With the help of our dedicated teachers, make progress in mastering English language and join the daily life of our English-speaking hosts without any problem.

Author: Iveta Radeva