MOTHERING SUNDAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18805, 6 July 1929, Page 20 (Supplement)

MOTHERING SUNDAY.

The fourth Sunday in Lent is known as Mothering Sunday. Of late years the festival has happily been revived, after many years of neglect. The tradition of Mothering Day has its roots in the earliest faiths of the world. The pagan festival in honour of the mother of the gods had not been forgotten when Christianity spread over the civilised world. Then the word became another name for Jerusalem, “the mother of us all.” The next development was a Remembrance Day for the mother church of a district. On mothering Sunday the clergy and congregation of smaller churches used to go in a pro-

cession to the mother church and make offerings. Mothering cakes are still made in many parts of England. In the North the mothering cakes are called Simnel cakes. This old custom was greatly loved in Englend. There is a proverb, “Who goes a mothering finds violets in the lane.” Herrick wrote: I’ll to thee a Simnel bring ’Gainst thou go’st a-mothering, So that, when she blesses thee, Half that blessing thou’lt give me. Mothering Day is observed in the middle of May in America. It is looked forward to by children old and young who have saved a few pennies or a few shillings to buy a token for their mother.