Blessed Mother’s Day 2017! Best cards, poems, quotes and messages to wish your mum on Mothering Sunday
What is Mother’s Day, how did it begin and when is it celebrated around the world? Here’s everything you need to know
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- 23:00, twenty six MAR 2017
- Updated 14:17, thirteen MAY 2017
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It’s Mothering Sunday today – the special day to feast all mums across the UK.
Also the fourth Sunday of Lent, the 24-hours marks the maternal bond that exists inbetween a mum and child – as well as other maternal figures such as grandmothers, mothers-in-law and stepmums.
When is Mother’s Day 2017?
In the UK, the event falls on Sunday, March 26. However this date varies all around the world.
How is Mother’s Day celebrated?
Mothering Sunday is a Christian celebration that has now become a worldwide event where we display mums how much we appreciate them.
More than 30% of Brits say their mum is the most inspirational person in their life. Mother’s Day is traditionally a celebration to observe and feast mums, grandmothers and step-mums with flowers, breakfast in bed, gifts and cards.
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How did Mother’s Day begin?
The origins of Mother’s Day date back to the ancient Greek times, but the way in which we feast it today began in America in the early 20th Century.
The ancient Greeks dedicated an annual spring festival to maternal goddesses, and ancient Romans also celebrated a spring festival called Hilaria which was for a mother queen called Cybele.
More latest origins of Mothering Sunday date back to the 1600s in England when it was held on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
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It was originally a day for Christians to visit their ‘mother church’. Servants were given the day off the come back to their hometown and idolize with their families. Returning home, youthful people would pick wild flowers to place in the church, or to give to mums. This is why we often given flowers today.
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By 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every US state and on May 8, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution document that confirmed every 2nd Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
Nowadays the day has moved away from its religious meaning and is mostly just a day to showcase our mum’s – or maternal figures in our life – that we appreciate them.
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Why does Mothers Day switch each year?
This stems back to its Christian roots. Ever since the 16th century the date has switched annually. It’s because the day is linked to Easter, which also moves as its set by the lunar calendar.
You can always tell when it is by Lent – it’s the fourth Sunday every year.
So why is it celebrated on different dates around the world?
Here are the dates for your diary if you’re in the US or beyond.
UK, Ireland and Nigeria – Fourth Sunday in Lent
US and most other countries – 2nd Sunday in May
Romania, Slovenia and others – May 7
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and others – March 21
Portugal, Spain and others – Very first Sunday of May
Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador – May Ten
France, Sweden and others – Last Sunday of May (periodically very first Sunday of June)
Russia – Last Sunday of November
So why does it switch? In the USA it was established in one thousand nine hundred fourteen thanks to a campaign group during the Civil War. Anna Jarvis, the leader of the group, campaigned for a May date in memory of her own mother – who died that month.
President Wilson formalised the date, but Anna didn’t like the commercialisation of the date. The idea was to keep it focused on love and family.
A lot of other countries have taken on the US date due to its meaning.
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What to write in your Mother’s Day card
Got writer’s block? It can be tricky attempting to work out what to write, but don’t worry we have some effortless suggestions. Here are the top ten verses you can add to give your card that special something.
- “The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness” – Honore de Balzac
- “A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wifey the best, but his mother the longest” – Irish proverb
- “Her children rise up and bless her” – Proverbs 31:28
- “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother” – Abraham Lincoln
- “A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them” – Victor Hugo
- “God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers” – Rudyard Kipling
- “Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face” – George Eliot
- “Motherhood: All love embarks and completes there” – Robert Browning
- “Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children” – William Makepeace Thackeray
- “A mother is a mother still, The holiest thing alive” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
. if you don’t want to go for the mushy option there’s slew of cards with a *cough* alternative theme.