Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday?

Mothering Sunday is a date in the Christian calendar. It is the middle Sunday in Lent. This year it falls on 31 March – the date I have the privilege and responsibility of posting something here on the More than Writers blog. Mother’s Day is celebrated on various dates, depending on where people live. In the USA and many other countries it is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Other Sundays in May and another one in March complete the list on one website I visited. Only the UK and Gibraltar are listed as celebrating it today.

Some people hold very strong views about what the day should be called. My mother has always maintained that it is Mothering Sunday; to her Mother’s Day (like Father’s Day, which seems to be marked in at least one country in every month except January) is "an invention of the greetings card industry".

Mothering Sunday cards

It is increasingly difficult to find Mothering Sunday cards.

The history of Mothering Sunday is interesting. It is about the mother church and has traditions of people working away from home returning to visit their homes. They would attend a service at the church where they had been baptised.

Nowadays special services are held. Usually posies are given out for children and others to give to their mothers. With many families being separated by long distances, it is not possible for everyone to see their own mothers on this day.

A Mothering Sunday posy

In most services there is sensitivity to those members, who for various reasons find the day difficult. The Mothering Sunday service ranks with Harvest Festival for attendance where I live. 

I have my own tradition for 31^st March. For many years I have recorded the names of the plants in flower in our garden plus those which have already flowered and are no longer in bloom. Some of my lists appear on Sue’s Trifles as my ‘garden survey’. It is a tiny research project.

For this blog post I have done a small amount of research in order to check my facts. (I have learned a lot about Father’s Day in the process.)

Writers are authors; we should write articles, stories, blogs or whatever, which are authentic. Being accurate increases the authenticity. Even fantasy can be authentic, by adhering to a consistent imaginary world and having characters, who behave in self-consistent ways.

In case you are looking for some writing inspiration, here are a few ideas to choose from:-

Write about your mother or a mother figure in your life.

Write about your earliest memories of Mothering Sunday or the first church you went to

Write a description of the signs of spring in your neighbourhood (perhaps researching the names of plants in a park or the countryside)

Or if you are looking for a blogging challenge, Blogging from A to Z in April begins tomorrow (1 April). Annmarie Miles wrote about it earlier this month here.

However you spend the day, I hope you will enjoy it.

Susan always wanted to be a writer.  In 2012 she revived her interest in writing with a blogging project to collect the kinds of sayings, which were much used in her childhood.

Susan experiments with factual writing, fiction, humour and poetry.  She does not yet have a book to her name. Her interests include words, languages, music, knitting and crochet.  She has experience of the world of work, being a stay-at-home mum and an empty-nester.   She is active in her local community and Church, where she sings alto in the choir. She and her husband live in the North of England. 

Follow her on Twitter @suesconsideredt