Last week it was Mothering Sunday in Britain. Or Mother's Day, as it is known in North America.
Theoretically, two different ways of saying the same thing and expressing the same sentiment. Except that it isn't. Mother's Day is a celebration and honoring of mothers. Human mothers.
Mothering Sunday actually stems back to the tradition of people travelling once a year to their "mother church". Many young people who were "in service" (working as servants) were only allowed one day off a year and on that day visited their mothers and went back to their mother church.
Over the years, and also with the influence of North Ameican ideas, it evolved into Mother's Day. Not that 98 per cent of British people realise the distinction, and it has become almost exclusively a celebration of the qualities of mothering. So much so that you're lucky to be to find a spot for lunch that day.
Lucky me, I got this bouquet of daffodils at church. They kindly pass them out to all the women there, whether or not they technically qualify.
