Mothering Sunday was also known as
'Refreshment Sunday' or 'Mid-Lent Sunday' or even Laughter Sunday. It was
called Refreshment Sunday because the fasting rules for Lent were relaxed, in honour
of the Feeding of the Five Thousand story in the Bible.
No one is absolutely certain exactly how
the idea of Mothering Sunday began, but about four hundred years ago, people
who lived in little villages made a point of going not to their local church
but to the nearest big church, to what was called the Mother Church. And some
would go to the nearest city to worship in the cathedral. ('mother church' of
'diocese' ). People who visited their mother church would say they had gone
"a mothering." It was a day for giving thanks for all the things mothers did for us. It was common practice for servants and other people working
away from home to visit their parents and give their mothers a present of
money, a trinket or something to eat. The most favoured food was - the 'simnel
cake'.
‘I’ll to thee a Simnell bring
‘Gainst thou go’st a mothering,
So
that, when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou’lt give to me.’
1648
The fourth Sunday in Lent is still known
as Simnel Sunday in some areas of England, because of the tradition of baking
Simnel cakes.
Simnel Cake
The Simnel cake is a fruit cake. A flat
layer of marzipan (sugar almond paste) is placed on top of and decorated with
11 marzipan balls representing the 12 apostles minus Judas, who betrayed
Christ. The word simnel probably derived from the latin word ‘simila’, meaning fine,
wheaten flour from which the cakes were made. A Simnel is still made in many
parts of England today, although it is now more commonly made for and eaten at Easter .
Nottinghamshire had its own traditional dish called "fermity" this
dish was made from soaked whole grains of corn, boiled in water, then drain and
mixed with hot spiced milk, also there was a custom called "Clipping the
Church", this involved the congregation joining hands and circling the
church.
For many people its as easy as podding
peas to become a mother but for others its a heartless, fruitless journey. Once you have a baby, its far more difficult to be a good mother. Mothers
come in all shapes and sizes, colours and creeds and the human world cant
exist without mothers.They are essential, central to
the human family and therefore everything in human society. Get mothering wrong
and everything falls apart and yet we are given no instruction in this
essential art and stumble along as best as we can, learning from our own
mothers and others and making mistakes on the way.
Some mothers stay at home and never have
a job like in the old days. Although in the old days women worked from the
home, sowing, weaving, baking, washing, mending, growing vegetables and tending
animals. Some mothers today work either fulltime or part-time, most because
they have to. Most people these days cannot afford a house of their own without
the mother working.
Some mothers are married, some are not
(Mary), some are divorced or separated or remarried.
Being a mother is very difficult. You
worry when you are carrying the baby, you worry over its feeding, you worry
when they go to school, whether they will have friends, you worry about them
when they become teenagers and get in with the wrong crowd and about their
safety. When they leave home you worry about them getting in debt, having a
good job, about their relationships. It never stops-you worry about your
children. Then when you have grandchildren you worry about them.
In the Bible we have few examples of
mothers, but the good wife in Proverbs 31 is very interesting because as well
as managing the household she is a business woman, a pattern still used in many
Middle Eastern families today. In the gospels Mary is an unmarried teenage mum,
a married mum in a nuclear family and then again a single parent.
You may have had a good relationship with
your mother, you may not. You may not have even known your mother and someone
else raised you. Other people can fulfill that role too as Jesus suggests in
the gospels. Its about caring and loving unconditionally and just being there
at the end of a phone.
Lets think and pray for our mothers
whoever they were and in whatever form they came.
Interesting more flowers are sold
on Mothers Day than any other time of the year, even more than Valentine Day.
