Kokova Magazine

With all the rushing around and the economy collapsing at our feet is it any wonder that we forget some of the more important days - especially when they get moved around every year?

Mother's Day in the UK is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in the month of Lent but since the Lent days are not fixed, Mothers Day changes every year.

So to help you out we have the next few years covered, so you can update your diary.

• 2012 March 18 (UK) May 13 (USA)
• 2013 March 10 (UK) May 12 (USA)
• 2014 March 30 (UK) May 11 (USA)
• 2015 March 15 (UK) May 10 (USA)
• 2016 March 6 (UK) May 8 (USA)

Why Mother's Day?

As early as the 1600s the tradition of celebrating Mother's Day began with its origin in the practice of when poor people in England had to send their young children out to work as servants or apprentices to the rich.

It became important that these children who were staying away from their families should be allowed to visit their homes once in a year.

The time decided for the annual visit to home was the middle Sunday of the fasting period of Lent (which lasts from Ash Wednesday to Easter).

The day was called 'Refreshment Sunday' or 'Mid-Lent Sunday'.

The day now dedicated for mothers was more commonly called Mothering Sunday as people, mainly children, visited their 'Mother Church' or the church of their home and not the 'Daughter Church', the closest church in the vicinity.

After paying a visit to church, children would gather flowers from the bushes along the way to met their mothers and present the bouquet to them.

If they were able to, some girls would bake special cakes called 'Simnel Cakes' for their mothers.

The tradition of Mothering Sunday stopped with the advent of Industrial Revolution in England - when the working conditions and life pattern changed.

Eventually it was decided that a Sunday - the fourth Sunday in Lent or three weeks before Easter - would be reserved in the honour of mothers.

Present time sees the original meaning of Mothering Sunday to become lost and this has now taken the more common form and name of Mother's Day.

Modern Mother's Day.

Children sometimes get more excited than their mothers on Mother's Day.

Many lukewarm cups of tea and soggy slices of toast will adorn a decorated tray destined for 'breakfast in bed' - kettles scarcely boiled or tea bags brewed from the water in the hot tap - bread impatiently pulled from the toaster - in a rush of excitement and impatience to complete the surprise.

Children everywhere pay tribute to their mothers and thank them for all their love and support in an atmosphere full of excitement on the day.

Flowers record their maximum sale as people show love and gratitude for their mothers by buying bouquets more than anything else, including chocolate!

The most popular flowers on Mothers Day are roses followed by carnations and chrysanthemums.

'Mother’s Day is a good excuse to spoil our mums and thank them for everything they do.