Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday is a holiday celebrated by Catholic and Protestant Christians in some parts of Europe. It falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter (For Orthodox Christians in Europe and elsewhere, the fourth Sunday in Lent remembers St. John of the Ladder (St. John Climacus)). Once observed as a day on which people would visit their "mother" church, it has become an occasion for honouring the mothers of children and giving them presents. It is increasingly being called Mother's Day, although that has always been a secular event quite different from the original Mothering Sunday. In the UK and the Republic of Ireland, Mothering Sunday is celebrated in the same way as Mother's Day is celebrated elsewhere.