Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day

Mothering Sunday in the UK is a Christian festival. In 2006 Mothering Sunday or Mother's day is on 26 March. It always falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent and traditionally was a day when children gave presents, flowers and cards to their mothers. Mothering Sunday has been celebrated in the UK since at least the 16th century.

Mothering Sunday was also known as Refreshment Sunday or Mid Lent Sunday, because in the old days when many girls went into service from as young as ten years old and boys were apprenticed at about the same age, they were allowed a day off to go home and share a meal with their parents. As it falls in the middle of Lent, the fasting rules were relaxed in honour of the Feeding of the Five Thousand (a story from the Bible). Besides having a good meal, children also went home to the ‘Mother’ church.

Another name for Mothering Sunday is Simnel Sunday. That comes from the tradition of making a special cake called a Simnel Cake. There are plenty of Simnel Cake recipes on the net, but very few that explain why it has 11 marzipan balls decorating the top of the cake. They are supposed to represent 11 apostles (Judas, who betrayed Christ, is already removed).

Although Mothering Sunday is the equivalent of Mother’s day in other countries, it falls on a different day every year depending on when Lent starts. And, in the UK people still give cards, chocolates, flowers and gifts to their mothers, just as other countries Mother’s Day is celebrated.

If you are looking for a gift for Mother's day, why not order a box of chocolates from Hotel Chocolat. It will make for a much more special Mother's day if you offer something that your Mum can't buy in the supermarket. Hotel Chocolat have a great range of chocolates specially packaged for Mother's day...

If you know your mum is dieting or simply doesn't like chocolates, how about a bouquet of flowers? You may have hesitated before buying flowers over the internet but, with Marks and Spencer you can be sure the quality will be great and the flowers will be delivered when you want them!

You'll find that your flowers are delivered by courier to your mother to arrive for mother's day, with a personalised card ffrom you wishing her all the best! You'll find a selection of Beautiful Spring Flowers & Mother's Day Bouquets at M&S, just click on the button to go to their online store and chose now!

Or if you want something a little different why not check out our exclusive e-cards. Gabrielle can design a card especially for your mother for mother's day...or for a small annual subscription you can have access to her portfolio of animated e-cards. Or order some handmade soaps from Singing in the Bath... And of course if you are still stuck for an idea...there's always LastMinute. How about a theatre trip or a spa day...or even adopt an orang utang. You'll find them all at Lastminute.com's Unusual gifts section.