Mother<strong>in</strong>g Sunday By Lesley Smith, Curator of Tutbury Castle The traditions of Mother<strong>in</strong>g Sunday are founded <strong>in</strong> the late Middle Ages, and not the Victorian period, as many people believe. It is quite dist<strong>in</strong>ct from Mother’s Day <strong>in</strong> the USA, which has a different root to ours <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>. The American Mother’s Day was <strong>in</strong>vented <strong>in</strong> 1908 by a woman called Anna Jarvis, <strong>in</strong> honour of her own mother, who had died two years earlier. It takes place <strong>in</strong> May and has no religious associations. By contrast, Mother<strong>in</strong>g Sunday began as a religious festival and takes place on the fourth Sunday of Lent. The beautiful cathedral at the heart of our city would have been the focus of this celebration of motherhood for hundreds of years, as you will discover. Lent was a pretty miserable and tough time for our ancestors, as they withdrew from anyth<strong>in</strong>g joyous, ate a frugal diet of the pla<strong>in</strong>est food and had absolutely no luxuries. It was, and still is, a time of reflection and prayer, almost as if the country was <strong>in</strong> mourn<strong>in</strong>g, build<strong>in</strong>g up to the greatest Christian festival of all – Easter. It was not unusual for children as young at ten to jo<strong>in</strong> other households as servants or farm workers dur<strong>in</strong>g the Middle Ages and that cont<strong>in</strong>ued until the 19th century, when new laws came <strong>in</strong> to protect children so young from be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the workplace, such as the mills and down the m<strong>in</strong>es. So, at least as far back as the 16th century, the tradition of Mother<strong>in</strong>g Sunday was established for children and adults that had moved from their homes and “Mother Churches”. This might be the church <strong>in</strong> which someone was baptised, or the most important church <strong>in</strong> the area, which <strong>in</strong> <strong>Lichfield</strong> would of course have been the cathedral. It was considered it would be a great comfort to allow children to come home and visit their mother and church, and to take part <strong>in</strong> a service <strong>in</strong> celebration of this relationship. This would be particularly welcome <strong>in</strong> the middle of Lent, and the fourth Sunday of Lent is also known as Refreshment Sunday, when a little relaxation of the strict rules of Lent was permitted to help people get through the rest of Lent to Easter. K<strong>in</strong>der households would supply bits of cloth and needle and thread so some youngsters could spend their spare time mak<strong>in</strong>g little gifts. This tended to be a girl’s doma<strong>in</strong>, but boys could make th<strong>in</strong>gs too. I th<strong>in</strong>k it is quite wrong to assume that all employers of children were brutish, cruel creatures, as many provided food, shelter and small wages to youngsters who frankly could not be kept at home as the family simply couldn’t feed them. Many servants had medical treatment paid for by employers as if their servants were part of their own families, and were cared for very well <strong>in</strong>deed for many years. So be comforted, there are cases of employers be<strong>in</strong>g hauled up <strong>in</strong> front of magistrates for not car<strong>in</strong>g well for a young servant and the youngster would be taken away and put with a better, more car<strong>in</strong>g family, sometimes the very family that brought the case. So, the children were allowed to go home, no doubt on a couple of market carts <strong>in</strong> some cases or with a long walk ahead. After a wonderful greet<strong>in</strong>g, the whole family would go to their church and wait<strong>in</strong>g for them would be small bunches of flowers, such as daffodils, and each child would collect posies for their mothers and br<strong>in</strong>g it back to the pew for them. It is a sweet custom and today it still happens as bunches of flowers wait for the children each year to collect for their mothers. The tradition of Mother<strong>in</strong>g Sunday largely died out <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong> by the end of the 19th century, probably at least <strong>in</strong> part because of the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g restrictions on child labour. It was revived follow<strong>in</strong>g a campaign <strong>in</strong> 1913 by a Nott<strong>in</strong>ghamshire vicar's daughter called Constance Penwick Smith. She was <strong>in</strong>spired <strong>in</strong> part by the success of the American Mother's Day movement but felt that it was important to revive the traditional l<strong>in</strong>k with the Church, and with Refreshment Sunday <strong>in</strong> the middle of Lent. The traditional dish was simnel cake, and what a marvellous taste it would be after all that frugal food. Simnel cakes are made from a traditional dark fruit cake that has marzipan <strong>in</strong> two layers, one <strong>in</strong> the middle of the fruit cake and one on the top like a yellow hat, that is decorated with eleven balls of marzipan to represent the 12 apostles, exclud<strong>in</strong>g Judas. Some people tie the cake with yellow ribbon and t<strong>in</strong>y fluffy chicks or ic<strong>in</strong>g daisies, and these days it is often eaten at Easter itself. Simnel cake is eaten <strong>in</strong> many places and the French word “simenel” for a cake dates back at least to the 13th century. It comes from the Lat<strong>in</strong> for ‘f<strong>in</strong>e flour’ mean<strong>in</strong>g the best type of bak<strong>in</strong>g. Different areas had their own recipes and traditions, and long-established versions are known from Shrewsbury, Devizes and Bury <strong>in</strong> Lancashire, of which the Bury recipe is most commonly used today. You can still buy simnel cake <strong>in</strong> some of the more creative bakers and supermarkets. Do look out for it or perhaps have a go at mak<strong>in</strong>g it yourself. Some people buy the fruit cake and decorate it with yellow marzipan bought separately. This festival is for everyone to enjoy and if you take your child or mother to church this year, it is highly likely those flowers are wait<strong>in</strong>g. 20
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