Calendar celebrations such as Mother’s Day are considered by many as ‘Hallmark days’, invented purely for the sale of sentimental cards and gifts, but the traditions are much older. I hate these days and protested so much over the years that my (adult) children listened to me, for once, and I got nothing last year – not even garage flowers. This year I’m saying nothing!

In Ireland, it falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, (this year it’s on 14 March), three weeks before Easter, which was usually the only day those in service had off in the whole year. This Sunday was chosen because, in the busy spring-cleaning preparations for Easter, they would have no time off at all after that. In England, that was the day when Anglicans visited their ‘mother church’, which usually meant they went home to their parishes close to their families, so they visited their mothers, bringing small gifts. That was when it became known as Mothering Sunday.

Simnel cake
Those lucky enough to have generous employers were often allowed dip into the household supplies and bake a special fruitcake to take back with them. These cakes became known as Simnel cakes and have their origins in the middle ages. The name is believed to have its roots in Latin, where ‘simila’ meant very fine flour made from wheat.

Of course, the Lenten fast observed by most people at that time meant the cake was kept until Easter to be eaten. Over time the decorations evolved to reflect this and now a traditional Simnel has a thick layer of marzipan on top, with 11 toasted marzipan balls around the edge – each representing one of the apostles, with the exception of Judas.

Girl power
In America, and most of the rest of the world, Mother’s Day is a fixed event and always falls on the second Sunday in May. It was in the US that social activist Julia Ward Howe – one of the first to recognise ‘girl power’ and harness it – urged mothers to unite against the American Civil War. This resulted in a Mother’s Day Proclamation being written in 1870.

A contemporary of Howe’s, Ann Jarvis, was working to improve the appalling sanitation at the time and, during the war, she organised regular Mother’s Workdays. However, when the war was over, the bitterness and enmity remained. So, in 1868, she began a programme of reconciliation between Union and Confederate mothers.

Presidential declaration
Two years after Howe’s death, her daughter Anna handed out 500 carnations to all the mothers in the congregation at her Church. In a few years, that tradition had spread to 46 states. In 1914, it was taken up by the-then president, Woodrow Wilson, and he declared the first Mother’s Day to pay tribute to all mothers who had lost sons in war.

From whatever the genesis, and whether you wear a flower or not to mark the occasion, Mother’s Day is now celebrated on various dates throughout the world, with and without the Hallmark cards!

Mum’s the word
Many salutations have been written in praise, or not, of mothers, some more quotable than others.

• All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his – Oscar Wilde
  
• Now, as always, the most automated appliance in a household is the mother – Beverly Jones
  
• A suburban mother’s role is to deliver children obstetrically once and by car forever after – Peter de Vries
  
• When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child – Sophia Loren
  
• Women’s liberation is just a lot of foolishness. It’s the men who are discriminated against. They can’t bear children. And no one’s likely to do anything about that – Golda Meir
  
• Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process – John Fitzgerald Kennedy