Some mothers do have 'em

Aren't they beautiful?

The annual muddle of Mothers' Day is upon us.  Today is Mothering Sunday in the UK and it wasn't forgotten.  This is not so easy for offspring who live in France because there, the Fête des Mères will be on 29 May, along with a few other countries.  Most of the rest opt for 8 May.

Public service announcement (because it's one of the most frequent searches coming to this blog).

Mothers' Days 2011 (sorry, Norway and Romania, I'm late)


Norway: 13 February 2011

Romania: 8 March 2011

United Kingdom: 3 April 2011

Denmark: 1 May 2011
Portugal: 1 May 2011

Austria: 8 May 2011
Belgium: 8 May 2011
Brazil: 8 May 2011
China: 8 May 2011
Germany: 8 May 2011
Greece: 8 May 2011
Italy: 8 May 2011
Netherlands: 8 May 2011
Spain: 8 May 2011
Switzerland: 8 May 2011
Ukraine: 8 May 2011
USA: 8 May 2011

France: 29 May 2011
Morocco: 29 May 2011
Sweden: 29 May 2011
Tunisia: 29 May 2011

Luxemburg: 5 June 2011

Russia: 27 November 2011

No doubt someone will want to standardise the date but I rather like the diversity, not least because I stand a chance of having a double celebration.

Remember the mothers

Today is Mothering Sunday in the UK. In France it's the last Sunday in May unless this clashes with Pentecost, which it does this year, so it will be 7 June. For me it's always a toss up whether my sons will remember this date, or the French Fête des Mères, or both, or neither.

While I was contemplating that, I thought about all the different dates for Mothers' Days around the world. I've thought a lot about mothers over the years, especially those in developing nations where poverty is a fact of life.

Survival - mother and child tells the story of Marjana in Bangladesh, expecting her second child, where she is 50 times more likely to die in childbirth than a mother in a developed nation. Four million babies die within a month of birth.

She does it all and Tough women both are stories about "substitute" mothers, people who have taken over the care of children when parents have died from Aids, in the first case elder siblings, the second case grandmothers.

Child marriage. There is another sort of mother that we'd prefer didn't happen at all and these are the children who give birth at a very young age, because they have been married as children. Their bodies are not sufficiently mature to cope with childbirth and this can lead to complications and even death.

Finally, a few Numbers to highlight differences between countries:

• In Sweden, 1 in 17,400 mothers die in childbirth.
• In the UK, 1 in 8,200 mothers die in childbirth.
• In Sierra Leone, 1 in 8 mothers die in childbirth.

If (when) my sons don't notice the date, I can count my blessings.

Mothering Sunday

Unlike Mother's Day in other countries, Mothering Sunday in the UK is a movable date – it is the fourth Sunday in Lent – but it has become synonymous with Mother’s Day in recent years.

It originated from the requirement for people to worship at their "mother church”, the church where they were baptised, at least once a year. This was naturally near their home and family and so it became associated with returning to see their mothers. The tradition, dating from the 16th century, grew for domestic servants and apprentices to be given time off work to do this. Flowers are the traditional gift because they could be gathered along the way home.

The day has in the past been known as Refreshment Sunday because the fasting during Lent could be relaxed; or Simnel Sunday after the traditional cake, very similar to Christmas cake. The names Rose Sunday or Laetare Sunday also refer to the same day. Rose Sunday is so called because it was the day popes used to bless the roses sent to Catholic sovereigns, and Laetare Sunday (Latin meaning rejoice) after the first word of the introit sung that day. A couple of years ago one of the local supermarkets gave a rose to every woman visiting that Sunday. I thought it was very pleasant but it must have cost a fortune because it was a once off, in the days before Sunday shopping became popular.

France celebrates la Fête des Mères on the last Sunday in May, but it is the second Sunday in May in most other countries. Looking at the different dates that it is celebrated around the world, it would be interesting to know why the differences arose. I do know that some celebrate on International Women’s Day, 8 March but there are a good many others.

I have done my duty and bought a gift for my mother, along with a posy of flowers. I didn’t find enough flowers in the garden and had to buy some but they are a proper posy, not a florist’s bunch.

My sons are in France normally and they often miss Mother’s Day completely or end up marking it twice. This year though, number 2 son is in England for the weekend so for the first time in ages I will see one of them on the day. How good is that!