The tradition originates in Laetare Sunday<\/a> on the Catholic liturgical calendar. The story is that, centuries ago, servants and apprentices were allowed to return to their mother-church and their family on Laetare Sunday. Mothering Sunday was nearly forgotten by the 1930s, but American servicemen stationed in England during the Second World War helped revive the tradition<\/a>, and the focus of the day was firmly fixed on mothers alone. Mothering Sunday is prominent once again. From the appearance of the stores on Grafton Street, the tradition is now indistinguishable from Mother’s Day in the US — it’s a standard hallmark-holiday<\/a>.<\/p>\n By the way, the story of Mother’s Day in the United States<\/a> is much more exciting. It’s a historiographic<\/a> grudge-match! In one corner, flourishing<\/a> in 1872, is the feminist and anti-war suffragette, Julia Ward Howe<\/a>. In the other corner, flourishing in 1908, is the Victorian sentimentalist, Anna Jarvis<\/a>. In the grand tradition<\/a> of pugilistic commentary<\/a>, I offer my analysis in verse:<\/p>\n Howe’s left-side rhetorical hook<\/a>
<\/span> So, that Sunday became associated<\/a> with children returning to their extended families and thus, their mothers.<\/p>\n
\n is second to none,
\nbut the appeal of Jarvis to mainstream authority<\/a>
\n will get the job done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n