To ask why it is now Mother's Day

[AmazingGreatAunt]

instead of Mothering Sunday?
Is this a further sign of the secularising of the UK in general or just the assimilation of additional transatlantic habits?
I live in a European country that has a Mother's Day at the beginning of May, which has nothing to do with returning to your home church.

Both my father and my FiL have always been very anti Father’s Day on the basis that Mother’s Day/Mothering Sunday (MiL always calls it the latter and we always buy cards that say that) is a longstanding established tradition with roots in the church, whereas they see Father’s Day as made up and a bit pointless. We’ve never marked it in either of our families.

Crikey!!!!

Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations have always been a big deal in my family and my in laws!

In Europe, Father’s Day goes way back to the middle ages, when it was connected to St Joseph and was celebrated on his feast day.
Although popularised (with a different date) in the US over 100 years ago, Father’s Day is celebrated on different days around the world!

It’s one thing not to celebrate Father’s Day…. But to be anti Father’s Day seems a little mean!

Ha, well to be fair they’re only anti it for themselves - they wouldn’t begrudge anyone else marking it! But we both coincidentally grew up in families where it was slightly dismissed, so we’ve never really seen it as a thing. Though to be fair we don’t really mark Mother’s Day beyond a card/flowers from church.

@SpanThatWorld
I was born in Scotland, but grew up in Devon. It was always known as Mothering Sunday.
Some years ago I moved to Europe, where it is known as Mother's Day, but for completely different reasons.

Dont people wonder why the date changes so wildly!

Only if they don't understand that it's connected to the movable feast of Easter

Im not sure why you've tagged me in to that.

As i said, i always said Mother's Day. In other places, practice was clearly different.

Only in some countries - in most countries it's just about recognizing mothers and even in the UK, it's more about recognizing mothers than the original reason which fell out of use a long long time ago.

Mothering Sunday has nought to do with mothers.

Why would they refuse to acknowledge it?
That's sound petty.

Why buy a card with "Mothing Sunday" on it for a mother?
Mothering Sunday has nothing to do with mothers.

Mothing Sunday 😅

This thread is how I learned why some people call it Mothering Sunday!
I really do think a lot of you massively overthink way too much 😂

Mothering Sunday is religious which I despise so it’s always Mother's Day for me

It's Mother's Day since the 1930s thanks to Constance Adelaide Smith, who was inspired by Anna Jarvis, the American woman who founded Mother's Day in 1914 for Mothers - not for any religious reason.

I thought that when workers went home to their “mother church” they also tended to visit their families and traditionally brought a bunch of flowers and a simnel cake for their mothers. If true, we can’t say that Mothering Sunday has nothing to do with mothers.

I am a Senior Citizen and it was always Mothering Sunday when I was a child.
It was basicalky a religious day.
But during tbe fifties American influences swept the UK. Hallmark cards sweot the market with Mothers Day cards It was known as Mothers day in the USA.
Since then it has become much mofe commercialised and the name Motbers Day has become prevalent.
But a name is not really imporgant. It is a day for all mums.

That's also thanks to Constance Smith - she re-invented the forgotten religious feast day to mirror Anna Jarvis' new celebration of mothers.
She knew the only way to revive it was to link it to the much more popular Mother's Day. I'd prefer it we just followed the Americans on this as most countries in the world have done and celebrated it on the second Sunday in May for pragmatic reasons as well as keeping it separate from a misogynistic institution.

It is Mother’s Day because most people think it is important to remember their mothers for being mothers one day a year. It isn’t a new idea. It was Mother’s Day when I was a child more than 60 years ago. The church has tried to claim it back as a religious festival for “mother church” in recent years though it has not been very successful. It always seems a little churlish to try and deny mothers their one special day of recognition. I have heard too many sermons that have studiously avoided saying anything nice about mothers on what could be a celebration of all the wonderful things of mothers do for us that go unrecognised the rest of the year. I don’t think it’s too much to ask. Due to this, Mother’s Day is one Sunday in the year when I no longer go to church.

I've never called it Mothering Sunday, though I know it technically is. I was also raised as church-going, but never knew it was church-related, now I might need to Google what the difference is between Mothering Sunday and the Mother's Day that everyone else celebrates

This is a Big Ben thing.

"Actually, the tower isn't called Big Ben. The bell is called Big Ben."

Well, no. People call the tower Big Ben. May not be its name, but that's what people call it. Ask anyone within twenty miles of it, and that's what 99 percent of them will call it.

See also Mothers' Day. And can we not get started on Frankenstein?

You may argue that they shouldn't be called what they're called, but that's what everyone calls them.

I think the difference is that the UK has taken over the religious date, whereas other countries have 'created' a date, possibly due to US influence?
On a different note, can anyone explain why there are now so many adverts exhorting people to visit the USA on this website?

celebrated it on the second Sunday in May

That's a terrible idea, @HippityHoppityHay ! Daffodil season is long over in the UK by May and daffodils are my main requirement from Mother's Day.

Tulips wouldn't be the same.

I'm guessing that tourism to the US has tanked because of concerns about the current administration. They need to try to mitigate the impact of this, and MNHQ is presumably happy to accept the advertising revenue.

Ive always known it as mothers day, I had no idea it had religious connections til this thread!