With Apologies to Anna Jarvis
Furthering ADL’s commitment to bringing obvious news to people living under rocks and in deep caves in Mars is this public service announcement: This Sunday is Mother’s day in the UK as everyone who walked into a British high street will know by now. That means it is once again time to buy cards, chocolate and gifts in honour of your mother or face shame and censure at the hands of your more family minded relatives and friends.

But what if Mum’s been very good this year and you want to do something special? Well luckily for you, we at ADL have just the thing – 20% off course this weekend only with our promotional code. Give Mum the gift of education and learning and choose from our hundreds of courses. But hurry this promotion ends soon!

A Brief History of Mother’s Day in the UK.
Mother’s day is often called Mothering Sunday in the UK. Unknown by many, however, is that Mothering Sunday was something completely unrelated to honouring one's mother. Originally, it began as a holiday that fell during the fourth Sunday of the period of Lent in the Christian calendar.

On this day, it was common for those able to return to their mother church – typically the largest church in the area where they had been baptised – for a special service. Those said to have made the journey were said to have gone “a-mothering”, hence the day came to be known as Mothering Sunday.

It is also notable that on this day it was traditional for servants to have the day off to visit their mother. Given that many young people of earlier times sought work as maids in wealthier households, Mothering Sunday provided a rare opportunity to reunite with family. Stories from such times say that it was traditional for girls and boys heading home to gather flowers that would have bloomed during the first weeks of spring as gifts to give to their mother when they returned.

But the celebration we know now as Mother’s Day began, as with so many modern festivals, in the United States when an Anna Jarvis began a campaign to have Mother’s Day recognized as a national holiday in her country. She succeeded in 1914 when the American Government passed a law recognizing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

The idea quickly made its way overseas during World War One, becoming introduced to the British and French allies of American servicemen in the trenches, who witnessed the immense amount of postage American soldiers were sending home to their mothers around the holiday. Back in Britain itself, a resurgence of the Mothering Sunday tradition took hold, this time with more of an emphasis on mothers, rather than a return to one’s mother church. The two names, Mothering Sunday and Mother’s day became effectively the same.

Of course, where there’s a holiday there’s money to be made. In short order, there came card makers, chocolate vendors and distance learning colleges, all eager to cash in on the celebration to make money. It went on to the extent that Anna Jarvis herself regretted ever coming up with the idea due to the over commercialization of the holiday. In particular she was famously critical of pre-printed cards as evidence that someone was too lazy to write a personal letter to their mother.

And on the topic of over-commercialization of holidays; did we mention we’re running a fabulous 20% off sale on Sunday? Type in mumday14 to receive your discount!