I'm the one next to the pushchair and six of those boys are my brothers!
I've been musing over these celebratory days that we have, such as Valentines day, Father's day, Mother's day etc etc.
I never really looked into the history of Mothering Sunday, it seemed that there are two stories behind it, in the sixteenth century people would return to their 'Mother Church' on the 4th Sunday of lent, as time went on Mothering Sunday became a day for domestic servant's to return to their Mother church and visit their families. Apparently this tradition lapsed by the 1920's, but a fascinating women called Anna Jarvis was born in America. Her Mother founded the 'Mother's day work clubs' in and around the time of the Civil War to help with health & sanitary conditions.
When she passed away Anna Jarvis set about campaigning to make Mother's day a recognised holiday. She succeeded by 1914 and the international Mother's day Shrine was established in Grafton USA to commemorate her achievement.
Now if you carry on reading about her story it is quite eye-opening, but I think I'll leave it there wondering how you are celebrating Mother's day this year?.....
