This year Mothering Sunday falls on 2nd March in the UK. Don’t forget to treat your dolls house mother to a traditional Mothering Sunday Simnel Cakewhich has been designed to look as if a child has made it for their Mother.
Originally Mothering Sunday was a religious festival where people from the smaller villages would go to the Mother Church or Cathedral in the nearby town or city, this became known as having gone ‘a Mothering’ and thence to Mothering Sunday. This evolved into a day where serving girls were given a day off to visit their Mothers (very often the only time they visited their home in the year) and to mark this they were sometimes allowed to bake a small cake which was known as a Simnel cake.
The original simnel cakes were often decorated with fresh flowers such as violets and marzipan. However the Victorians changed the traditional Simnel cakes into Easter Simnel cakes with eleven small balls of marzipan on to represent the Apostles. These are much more common today than the original cakes.
Finally don’t forget to wish your own Mother a Happy Mothering Sunday this weekend.