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Mother's
day Traditions
A feast
for the mammies
When did Mother’s Day begin?
During
the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering
Sunday” on the 4th Sunday of Lent.
During
this time many girls worked in service for the wealthy. As most
jobs were located far from their homes, the girls would live at
the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants
would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and
spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the
mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a
festive touch. This cake is also known as Simnel cake. As
Mother’s Day often falls close to Easter – it’s on the fourth
Sunday of Lent - the cake is eaten on either occasion.
Mother’s Day is possibly the only day of the year when
hardworking mothers get to put their feet up. So the following
piece should be strategically left around over the next few
days for others to read!
 What to
do for your mother on Mother’s Day
Traditionally, she gets breakfast
in bed. This doesn’t have to be at all elaborate as it’s really
the thought that counts, not the tea and toast or the scrambled
egg. Smaller children are very often helped by Daddy to arrange
this feast. Just make sure the tray is nicely set, with proper
cutlery, a small flower in a vase and a card. I’m going to let
all you children into a secret here – mothers love homemade
cards. All you need is a piece of paper and coloured pencils or
crayons.
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It’s not really a good idea to
wake her up too early – another thing mothers love is a lie-in.
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After breakfast, run her a warm
bath, full of relaxing oil such as lavender.
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Make her plenty of cups of tea and
serve with a slice of cake or a biscuit. And give her the
Sunday papers to read.
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Help with the lunch or
dinner – set the table nicely, help in the kitchen if you’re
not old enough to do all the cooking.
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And don’t ask her to do anything.
DID YOU KNOW? The
earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the
spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honour of Rhea, the
Mother of the Gods.
DID YOU
KNOW? In the USA, many people wear a carnation on Mother’s Day?
A white carnation indicates the wearer’s mother is dead while a
coloured one indicates she’s alive.
 In the United
States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia
Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the
Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. In 1887,a Kentucky
schoolteacher began celebrating the day.
In 1907 Anna Jarvis, from
Philadelphia, began a nationwide campaign to establish a
national Mother's Day. She persuaded her mother's church in
Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second
anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By
the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia.
Anna Jarvis and her
supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and
politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's
Day. By 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state.
In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson, made the official
announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday
that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
While many
countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at
different times throughout the year, there are some countries
such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and
Belgium, which all celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday
of May.
Special Mother's Day Recipe
Roast chicken with herb butter
A simple roast dinner
taken from The New Cook by Mary Berry. This can be served with
a mixed salad if the chefs aren’t up to doing vegetables.
Buy a fresh chicken and
make sure it’s dry before cooking so that the skin crisps and
browns. Remove the pieces of white fat on both sides of the
opening. There’s no need to wash the chicken but you can wipe
it with kitchen paper.
Ingredients:
1 chicken about 1.5-1.8
kg
1 red onion, cut into
quarters
4 tblsp white wine
Herb butter:
85g butter at room
temperature
3 tblsp finely chopped
parsley
1 tblsp finely snipped
chives
1 tsp finely chopped
thyme
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to gas
mark6/400ºF/200ºC/190ºfan oven.
If it’s too awkward to
chop the herbs, cut them with a scissors. Put the butter into a
bowl and beat until soft. Add in the herbs, lemon juice, a
small pinch of salt and some black pepper. Mix well together.
Put two sections of the onion into the cavity of the bird and
the remaining two in the roasting tin. Put the chicken on the
rack in the tin and spread with the herb butter. Spoon the wine
into the tin. Turn the chicken upside down and roast for 20
minutes. Then turn it beast side up and baste with the buttery
juices. Cook for another 55-70 minutes or until the juices run
clear when the flesh is pierced with a knife between the body
and leg.
Wrap the chicken in
tinfoil and leave to relax while you make the gravy. Tilt the
roasting tin so that the juices settle in one corner, then
spoon off the fat. Put the tin onto the hob, on a medium heat.
Sprinkle 2 tblsp flour over the juices and whisk until mixed
and slightly brown. Pour in 300ml hot stock, whisking all the
time. Simmer for a minute or two until thick and smooth.
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