6 Of The Best: Facts About Mother's Day
 Will
you be treated to breakfast in bed, followed by a luxurious lunch, this
Mothers' Day? Are you looking forward to a hand-made card from your toddler...
and will it make you cry? Or are you hoping your slothful student will
have remembered to phone Interflora?
Here are a few facts about Mother's Day that
you might not know...
When is it?
Mothers' Day, or Mothering Sunday, falls on the fourth Sunday
in Lent. So it's three weeks before Easter Sunday. It's also known as
Laetare, or Mid-Lent Sunday.
... and if you're
not British?
Mothers' Day is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May in Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cyprus,
Czech. Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong
Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Slovak,
Republic, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad, Turkey,
Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
It's not tied into the church calendar as it
is in the UK.
How did it start?
Traditionally, 16th century servants were given time off to return
home and visit their mother, often taking a small gift or posy of flowers.
Better-off servants would bring a special mothering cake. At the time,
most young people in service lived away from their families and welcomed
the rare opportunities to spend time with them.
Earlier still, the Ancient Greeks held spring
celebrations in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. Rites in honour
of Cybele, the mother of Classical Roman gods, lasted for 3 days.
Blooming
expensive
According to the Flowers
& Plants Association, there were a whopping 3.7 million mixed
bouquets bought for last Mothers' Day! In
addition, 394,000 bunches of roses were bought, 294,000 bunches of tulips,
293,000 bunches of freesia and 93,000 foliage plants.
35% of adults buy flowers for their
mums (or for their children to give to their mothers) on Mothers' Day.
Not good news for mums with hayfever.
It's good to talk
Research by Unicef has found that the average mother spends over 3.5 hours
on the telephone to her children per week.
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