By Caryn Deloach

Mother’s Day in Ireland and in much of Europe can trace its roots all the way back to the 16^th century.  At this time many children from poor families were sent to earn their living working for the upper classes as housekeepers and servants.  Over time it became customary for these children to visit their “mother” church or the church where they were baptized in the middle of the Lenten season.  This visit included carrying offerings or donations to the church and paying respects to the Virgin Mary.  This “Mothering Sunday” as it was called took place on the 4^th Sunday of the Lenten season. 

Over time, the tradition expanded to include a visit to the children’s own mother after the journey to the church.  On their way to the home of their family, the children would pick wild flowers to present to their mothers on their arrival home.  They would also sometimes bring offerings of foods for their mothers including a special cake called a “Simnel Cake.”  This is a fruit cake with a filling of almond paste and topped with marzipan.  In addition to the cake and flowers, these children would perform the household duties of their mothers for the day.

By the 1930s however, this tradition had all but disappeared in Europe.  However it was soon revived again when during World War II Europeans witnessed servicemen from America honoring their mothers on the second Sunday in May, Mother’s Day in the United States.  Europeans were supposedly touched by this and reinstated their original Mothering Sunday.  Today Mothering Sunday in Ireland and the United Kingdom still falls on the fourth Sunday during the Lenten season.  Now however, all of Ireland takes part in honoring their mothers on this day whereas it used to be a treat only for the mothers of the working poor. 

The tradition of presenting one’s mother with simnel cakes still exists and, as is customary in the United States, children in Ireland also give their mothers gifts and make them breakfast in bed or take them out for dinner.   It has also become tradition in Ireland for the children to present plays or skits to honor their mothers on this day.  In some areas communities organize such programs in honor of their local mothers.  And the Virgin Mary has not been forgotten on this day either.  She is still honored as part of the Irish Mothering Sunday.

“Lá an mháthair faoi shona dhuit!”

The Feast of Mothering: How to make simnel cakes, furmety, mi-carême custards, and other delights