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British Culture Alphabet: M
5年前Hi all!
I'm writing about British culture.
I thought a cool way to introduce some British culture into the Verbling community would be to work through the alphabet and talk about a topic for each letter.
So, for M we are focusing on.....
Mothering Sunday is an event each year in the UK where mothers are celebrated. It’s not just mothers in the strict sense but grandmothers, stepmothers etc. Indeed, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers are also heralded. Often children (and sometimes partners) buy mother figures cards and gifts to celebrate and thank them for all they do. Mothering Sunday, often now called Mother’s Day, is celebrated in the UK around 3 weeks before Easter, the fourth Sunday before Lent. It was, this year, celebrated on 22nd March 2020.
Many have wondered (myself included) why Mother’s Day is celebrated at a different time in the UK compared to other Anglophone countries such as the USA, where Mother’s Day is celebrated later on in the year, normally in May.
Following a little bit of research it seems like the origins are different. In the UK, the day which is being celebrated is Mothering Sunday. Mothering Sunday began in the 17th Century and has largely Christian associations. On Mothering Sunday people would return to visit their “Mother Church”.
Mother’s Day, on the other hand, originated as a day to celebrate Mothers. Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, USA. It was, thereafter, designated to take place on the second Sunday in May by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914.
You can read more here about the complex history of Mother’s Day:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/05/150507-mothers-day-history-holidays-anna-jarvis/
Over time, Mother’s Day and Mothering Sunday seem to have converged in the UK. The names are used interchangeably but the day is used predominantly to celebrate Mothers not Mothering Churches. If you can find someone who uses the day to visit a Mothering Church please let me know, I’d like to speak to them!
