Hello Mum.

Today is Mothering Sunday (not Mother's Day please, that's a completely different, more recent American invention). It falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent, which means that like Easter, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and the like, it's a moveable feast. And originally, the Mother in Mothering Sunday did not refer to your female parent, but to your Mother Church - that is the church where you were baptised. On Mothering Sunday you were supposed to go back and worship at your Mother Church for the day. Of course, if you worked away from home - as many young people in service did - this was also an opportunity (perhaps the only one of the year) to visit your parents, and doubtless you would turn up with a bunch of flowers for your mother. And that's how it all started.