Mother’s Day – a celebration of Maternal Bonds

Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday) is dedicated to honouring and celebrating motherhood and maternal bonds.  This year Mother’s Day falls on March the 18th, but is celebrated around the world at different times. 

Historically, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, there was a celebration called Mothering Sunday, which fell on the fourth Sunday of Lent.  Many historians believe that it originated from the Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children on this day, as many children worked away from home and were released from service for this day.

Over the years, the Mother’s Day celebrations have changed and their popularity has waxed and waned.  In fact, during the 1930s, it was much less celebrated, as working patterns had changed dramatically, and it wasn’t until World War II that the celebration saw a resurgence in popularity with the arrival of American Soldiers, who merged their own celebrations with those still practised by the Church of England.  By the 1950s Mother’s Day was again very popular in the UK and has remained so to the present day.  One reason for this explosion of popularity was simply based on commercial interests.  UK merchants recognised the event as having potential opportunities for making money with the sale of Mother’s Day Gifts.

The commercialisation of Mother’s Day has drawn strong criticism, but like many celebrated holidays, there is no denying that money and profit have become a defining factor, with the sale of jewellery, greetings cards and other Mother’s Day gifts generating vast amounts of revenue.  For example, in the US, almost 8 of the annual income derived from jewellery sales is related to Mother’s Day, Americans will spend around $2.6 billion on flowers and $1.53 billion on Mother’s Day pampering gifts.

It is suggested that without these commercial interest continuing to promote the event that the Mother’s Day as a celebration may well have withered.

However, commercialisation aside, it is a very good reason to honour your Mother, perhaps with breakfast in bed, other meals cooked and a range of gifts.  Showing appreciation of one’s Mother should be by default, but often Mothers are taken for granted, so this continued annual celebration means that this special person in your life is given just recognition of the often hard work it is being a Mother.