Mothering Sunday NOT Mothers' Day

This is one of those things that, due to my upbringing, really annoys me.  The day that we celebrate our mothers is a traditional day and is truly called Mothering Sunday.  I found this very good history of it on http://www.anniversaryideas.co.uk   and have taken the liberty of copying it below.  My mother and my mother-in-law would both get very upset if they were given a card which said "Mother's Day", so before I made cards, I would spend a lot of time hunting round card shops to find cards with Mothering Sunday on, usually stockpiling them for future years.  My grandmother was "in service" as a young girl until she was married, and her cousin was "in service" as Lady's Maid to the mother of Stanley Baldwin, the British Prime Minister, and both of them would have had a lengthy journey to get home to see their mother on this one special day in the year.

Mothering Sunday History

The correct name for Mothers Day in the UK is Mothering Sunday.

Mothering Sunday is always the fourth Sunday of Lent however as the dates vary as to when Easter and Lent fall the actual Sunday chosen to celebrate it may vary. 

It is more often referred to as "Mother's Day" and it origin is distinctly different to Mothers Day in America although the sentiments are similar.

In Victorian times, it was a day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother and family.

Today it is a day when children give presents, flowers, and cards to their mothers.

History of Mothering Sunday

Most Sundays in the year churchgoers would worship at their nearest parish or "daughter church".

In olden times it was considered important for people to return to their home or "mother" church at least once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit their "mother" church.
As the return to the "mother" church became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away from home returned. (It was quite common in those days for children to leave home to work in service from ten years of age.)
The majority of historians think that it was this return to the "Mother" church which led to the tradition of children, particularly those working as domestic servants, or as apprentices, being given the day off to visit their mother and family. This special day has now become a time when people give thanks to their mothers and offers an opportunity to express both love and thanks for the work that they do.