by Kay Bee

Created on: June 05, 2010   Last Updated: April 26, 2012

Mother’s Day is an opportunity to show love and appreciation for mums and the roles they play. There are many different ways to celebrate with our mothers but traditions have changed over the years. The story of Mother’s Day began many centuries ago in Greece, to honour a very different kind of mother Rhea, Mother of the Gods.

During the 1600s in England, the fourth Sunday of Lent became known as, Mothering Sunday. This was a special day to honour mothers. Many of the poorer people would work and live at the houses of the upper classes. They were given the day off on Mothering Sunday and would use this time to return home and visit their mothers. Children would pick flowers on the walk home to give as gifts.

Mothering Sunday was also known as Refreshment Day. The fastening rules for Lent were relaxed especially for this time. Servants would often bake a cake for their mothers which was named the Mothering Cake. A popular cake for Mothering Sunday is the Simnel cake. The cake is a fruit cake with layers of almond paste, topped with 11balls of marzipan. The marzipan balls represent the disciples (Judas was not included).

There is an old story of a couple named Simon and Nell, arguing over whether to bake or boil their fruit cake. Finally, they decided to do both and accordingly the cake was named after both of them: Sim-nell. It’s a fun story but the name probably comes from the Latin word simila, which is a fine flour used when baking cakes.

The meaning of the day changed yet again as Christianity began to take over Europe. Celebrations were in honour of the Mother Church. As time went on, the church festival and the celebration of honouring mothers combined.

Mother’s Day was first introduced to the United States in 1872 by Julia Howe. Julia would organize a Mother’s Day meeting once a year, in Boston. By 1907, a campaign was started to introduce a national Mother’s Day by Ana Jarvis from Philadelphia.

Ana convinced her church to hold a tribute to mothers, each year on the anniversary of her mother’s death, which was the second Sunday of May. The tradition began to spread and supporters of the day began to write to politicians and ministers requesting a national Mother’s Day be started.

By 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in most states in America. In 1914, US President, Woodrow Wilson officially announced that Mother’s Day was a national holiday and it was to be held annually on the second Sunday of May.

The way we celebrate Mother's Day may have changed over the years but the reason the day is important remains the same; we honour and love our mothers.    

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