Mother’s Day gives everyone a good excuse to spoil their mums

MOTHER’S Day gives everyone a good excuse to spoil their mums with cards, chocolates and flowers to thank her for bringing them into the world. Mother’s Day 2018 falls on Sunday, March 11 this year. The date changes every year because it is linked to the Christian calendar but usually falls in late March or early April.

Mothering Sunday as it is traditionally known is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, which is three weeks before Easter Sunday.

In the United States and many destinations around the globe, Mother’s Day 2018 is being celebrated on Sunday, May 13.

President Woodrow Wilson established the first US national Mother’s Day in 1914 after a campaign by social activist Anna Jarvis, known as the Mother of Mother’s Day.

Many countries in Europe and across the world have also adopted the US date.

In Ireland and the UK, Mother’s Day was originally a day for Christians to visit their ‘mother’ church back home during the holy month of Lent.

Workers would be given the day off to return home and worship with their loved ones and have family reunion. It is thought that the return to the ‘mother’ church led to the tradition of young domestic servants and apprentices being given the day off to visit their mother and family. Children and families around the country will mark the Mother’s Day by giving cards, flowers, chocolates and presents to their mothers.

Mothering Sunday is traditionally a day to say thank you to mothers for everything that they do throughout the rest of the year.

Often mothers are treated to breakfast in bed or cooked dinner, while Christian families attend church on Mother’s Day.