when did mothering sunday start in the uk
Mothering Sunday During the 16th century, people returned to their mother church for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday;[2] in this context, one's 'mother church' was either the church where they were baptised, or the local parish church, or the nearest cathedral (the latter being the mother church of all the parish churches in a diocese).[1] Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone "a-mothering", although whether this term preceded the observance of Mothering Sunday is unclear. In later times, Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother church, usually with their own mothers and other family members.[2] It was often the only time that whole families could gather together, since on other days they were prevented by conflicting working hours, and servants were not given free days on other occasions.[3]