mothering sunday
Mar. 22nd, 2009 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alcuteAs far back as Medieval time there was a relaxation of austerities on the fourth Sunday of Lent. This day was also set aside for priests to visit the Mother Church of the district, and for laity to return to the church where they had been baptised.
Serving girls and boys, hired at the Michaelmas Fairs, were allowed this one day’s holiday half-way through their year’s service to visit their homes.
It became customary for employers to bake a ‘simnel’ cake for the mother, perhaps hoping that the good deeds would bring luck to themselves:
“I’ll thee a simnel bring
‘gainst thou go a-mothering
So that when she blesses thee
Half that blessing thou’lt give to me.” Anon.
There were different varieties of simnel cake. The base was always a very rich plum cake, full of dried fruit and candied peel, often boiled in a cloth first before being put in a pastry case and baked.
The name probably derived from the Latin ‘simila’, meaning the ‘fine flour’, which was mixed with water to make the pastry covering.
Nowadays the simnel cake is usually prepared for Easter and has a layer of marzipan placed in the middle of the mixture before baking.
Violets are also a traditional Mothering Sunday gift. Most likely they were gathered from the hedgerows by the weary maids on their long walk home:
“Who goes a-Mothering
Finds violets in the lane.” Trad.
Source: All Year Round by A. Druitt et al
Serving girls and boys, hired at the Michaelmas Fairs, were allowed this one day’s holiday half-way through their year’s service to visit their homes.
It became customary for employers to bake a ‘simnel’ cake for the mother, perhaps hoping that the good deeds would bring luck to themselves:
“I’ll thee a simnel bring
‘gainst thou go a-mothering
So that when she blesses thee
Half that blessing thou’lt give to me.” Anon.
There were different varieties of simnel cake. The base was always a very rich plum cake, full of dried fruit and candied peel, often boiled in a cloth first before being put in a pastry case and baked.
The name probably derived from the Latin ‘simila’, meaning the ‘fine flour’, which was mixed with water to make the pastry covering.
Nowadays the simnel cake is usually prepared for Easter and has a layer of marzipan placed in the middle of the mixture before baking.
Violets are also a traditional Mothering Sunday gift. Most likely they were gathered from the hedgerows by the weary maids on their long walk home:
“Who goes a-Mothering
Finds violets in the lane.” Trad.
Source: All Year Round by A. Druitt et al
