Why Different Dates for Mothers Day?
In case you were wondering why there are different days for Mothering Sunday in Ireland/UK as opposed to many other countries, here is the answer: in Ireland and the UK, Mothering Sunday is related to Easter. It falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent – which tends to be a different date from year to year – and it is thought that the tradition is related to a mid-Lent festival in which people were encouraged to return to their ‘mother’ church (ie. the church in which they were baptised) to renew their vows of obstinence. The ‘other’ Mother’s Day, which is celebrated in the USA and a number of other countries including Australia, Belgium, Denmark and Italy, falls on the second Sunday in May and is a more recent tradition, having been established in 1914.
