Mum's the word

In the UK we have recently had Mothers’ Day.

Or Mothering Sunday to give it its traditional name.

But Mothering Sunday has nothing to do with mothers.

That is quite a recent development.

And a commercial one.

But Mothering Sunday started off in the 16^th century as a religious festival on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

And was the day when people returned to their mother church.

They went ‘a-mothering’.

Later it became the day when domestic servants and others would be given a day off prior to Easter to visit their mother church with their own mothers and other family members.

It was often the only time when whole families could gather together.

Servants were not given free days on other occasions.

And conflicting working hours meant that opportunities were rare for families to get together.

It was such a special occasion that the austere rules of Lent were relaxed to allow families to celebrate with delicacies known as simnel cakes.

And in some areas Mothering Sunday was also known as Simnel Sunday.

But with the demise of domestic servants by the early part of the 20^th century the ancient traditions of Mothering Sunday had begun to fall into disuse.

Until Anna Jarvis, in America, began her campaign to make Mother’s Day a recognised holiday, to honour her own mother and ‘the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world’.

In 1914 the President created Mother’s Day as a national holiday to honour mothers.

And this new tradition, fuelled by the commercial instincts of gift and card manufacturers, rapidly took off.

Indeed the speed with which it attracted commercial interest and became misinterpreted so angered Anna Jarvis that she tried to rescind the Presidential Decree.

For her Mothers’ Day was about sentiment not profit.

Her idea had been adopted and adapted.

There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.

And it soon crossed the Atlantic.

To be merged with the older religious tradition of Mothering Sunday.

Mothering Sunday had evolved into Mothers’ Day.

It was now about mothers. No longer about paying a visit to the Mother Church.

It had moved from the religious to the secular.

From theology to commerce via sentiment.

It had adapted and evolved and acquired meaning like any brand does.

To stay relevant and distinctive and credible.

Like Nokia which started out as a pulp mill before moving onto make rubber products.

Like Nintendo, originally a playing card company.

Like Shell, which began life as an antiques and collectibles shop specialising in decorative shells imported from the Far East.

Like Mothering Sunday.

Still relevant, credible and distinctive today.