Mother’s Day falls on March 19 this year, and mums around the UK will hopefully be putting their feet up and enjoy being waited on hand and foot for at least one day of the year. It’s a happy occasion for families to gather together and show just how much they appreciate their mum with a special meal, day out, or cards and gifts.

There is no fixed date for Mother’s Day in the UK because it has roots in Christian tradition, meaning that it always falls on the fourth Sunday in the festival of Lent, three weeks before Easter Sunday. The tradition began in the Middle Ages, when it was common practice for children to leave home after the age of 10 and work in domestic service in other areas.

To allow these youngsters a chance to see their families and also attend their ‘mother’ church, the tradition of Mothering Sunday was established. As the occasion coincided with the first flowering of spring, it became customary for children to gather a sprig of fresh flowers from grass verges along the journey home to give to their mother.

This tradition of presenting mothers with a bouquet of flowers still persists today of course. Another customary tradition of Mothering Sunday was baking a celebratory cake known as a Simnel cake, which is a fruit cake with a layer of marzipan in the middle and one on top. The strict fasting rules of Lent were relaxed to allow families to enjoy eating the cake together.

Do other countries celebrate Mother’s Day?

Many other countries celebrate Mother’s Day, although only Ireland and Nigeria celebrate it on the fourth Sunday of Lent as we do in the UK. In fact, the American version of Mother’s Day has no religious roots and did not begin until the early 20th century, when the UK custom had largely faded away.

The celebration was initiated in the US by a woman called Anna Jarvis, who was a peace activist and tended to wounded soldiers in the American Civil War.

She decided to honour her own mother after she passed away with a memorial service on 12 May 1907, and campaigned to make this a more general event to recognise the sacrifices that mothers make for their children. The first official Mother’s Day was celebrated the following year at a Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.

The event proved successful and was attended by thousands of people. After this, Jarvis renewed her efforts to get the day recognised as an official holiday, and was rewarded when in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared that every second Sunday in May would be Mother’s Day in the US.

The occasion became highly commercialised and sparked a renewed interest here in the UK. It can be difficult to find a unique and heartfelt gift amidst the sea of chocolates and flowers that flood the shops at this time of year.

Welsh lovespoons are handmade wooden spoons with elegantly carved symbols such as flowers, angels, hearts, and chain links to represent unbreakable love. Each one carries a special meaning, and makes a wonderful lasting tribute to a loved one.