Mothering Sunday & Mother's Day

Mother's Day in the UK is celebrated on Mothering Sunday, which falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent, three weeks before Easter. Although Mothering Sunday and Mother's Day originated differently (explanations for each are set out below) they are popularly recognised as a single occasion; one very much associated with the giving of flowers, cards and gifts.

At Zara Flora, our Mother's Day Flowers cover a wide range of designs, flower types and gift ideas, to suit different tastes and budgets. From a bunch of Spring Flowers to a stunningly presented aqua-packed bouquet, from a simple basket to an oversized glass vase, visitors to the Zara Flora store in Ship Street, East Grinstead, will find plenty from which to choose.

Whilst we source the best flowers from around the world, we like to buy the product of UK growers, and Mother's Day falls at a time when there are some gorgeous scented home grown flowers available. So alongside bouquets and arrangements featuring exotic tropical flowers, or beautiful Columbian Roses, you'll find the loveliest English Spring Flowers.

We have bunches of Tulips, Narcissi and Hyacinths (priced on the day), Mini Gift Buckets of Spring Flowers from £25 and Hand-Tied Bouquets of Spring Flowers from £30. Aqua-Packed Bouquets are priced from £45. We also have planted Hyacinths, Muscari and mini-Daffodils and a selection of house plants such as Hydrangeas, Stephanotis, Jasmine and Orchids.

Zara Flora is the sole appointed Master Florist for the postal areas of East Grinstead (RH19) in West Sussex, Forest Row (RH18) in East Sussex, and Lingfield (RH7) in Surrey, and delivers flowers throughout these districts; also to some locations in RH10 (Copthorne, Crawley Down, Turners Hill).

Generally we offer a same day/next day flower delivery service, however, Mothering Sunday is an occasion of intense demand, with huge numbers of flowers being delivered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday itself. The deliveries must be planned in advance and there is a limit to what we can take, so if you'd like your Mother's Day flowers delivered, do book early!

Zara Flora provides flowers at a number of local hotels that are promoting events for Mother's Day. We recommend visiting the Mother's Day Offers pages of the web sites for Alexander House (near East Grinstead), The Felbridge (East Grinstead) and Langshott Manor (Horley/Gatwick).

If you stay at one of these hotels, you'll be close enough to visit the Bluebell Railway for one of their Mother's Day Afternoon Tea Specials in the luxurious Lounge Car of the Wealden Rambler, a steam-hauled train from Sheffield Park at 3pm on either 21st or 22nd March.

The various occasions called Mother’s Day that are now observed around the world, have grown out of two separate holidays celebrated in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, the latter also being known as Mother’s Day and the former, Mothering Sunday.

Mothering Sunday originated in the 16th Century in England, when it was established as a festival in the Christian liturgical calendar, falling on the fourth Sunday in Lent and three weeks before Easter Sunday. Mothering Sunday did not start out as a celebration of mothers or motherhood, rather it was an occasion on which Christians travelled to worship at the mother church for their diocese or region (often a Cathedral).

The practice of visiting the mother church meant that ordinary families, separated when younger members went off to find work elsewhere in the region, were reunited; a rare chance for mothers to see their offspring. The services held in the mother church at some point also started to include a tradition of collecting posies of flowers and distributing them to mothers; this may have resulted in the sometime alternative name of Rose Sunday.

Mother’s Day in North America is thought to have been inspired by the festival of Mothering Sunday, yet neither did this occasion start out as a festival dedicated to mothers. It was first named by social activist Julia War Howe, as part of a call to unite women against war, in her “mother’s Day Proclamation of 1870 - her idea had been influenced by Ann Jarvis, who in 1858 had aimed to improve sanitation with “Mother’s Work Days”.

When Ann Jarvis died in 1905, her daughter, Anna Jarvis, set about trying to found a memorial day for women. It was Anna Jarvis who is famously remembered for handing out 500 white carnations at her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia - one for each mother in the congregation. The first “Mother’s Day” service was held on 10th May 1908, establishing the tradition in the USA for Mother’s Day to be on the second Sunday in May.

Subsequently, the commercialisation of Mother’s Day saw it develop first in the USA, and then gradually around the world, into a largely secular occasion on which the greeting cards and gifts were presented in addition to the traditional offering of flowers.

Mother’s Day in the UK is still celebrated on Mothering Sunday, and the customs of the North American occasion have been widely adopted and added to those of the original Christian festival. Mothering Sunday in the UK is on 14th March in 2010 and 3rd April in 2011.