At the end of March people across the globe will celebrate Mother’s Day. This is the one day of the year people come together to thank the mother figures in their lives and often bring gifts of flowers and chocolates. As a little aside did you know that the plastic insert inside a box of chocolates is made by Vacuum Forming which is a process offered by companies like https://www.bridgewooduk.com/production-assembly/vacuum-forming.
Back to Mother’s Day! It is an event that has a long history with the ancient Greeks hold a festival in Spring to the Goddess Rhea who was thought to have been the mother of many other gods and goddesses. The Romans also had a similar festival that was also held in the Spring called Hilaria and celebrated their mother goddess,Cybele. This was traditional held on the 15th of March each year, also known as the Ides of March. The festival would last for three days and would include people leaving offerings at their local temple as well as playing games and holding parades in the honour of Cybele.
It was in the 1600s that Mothering Sunday was held on the 4th Sunday in Lent and a service was held in church to celebrate the Virgin Mary and children would give their mother a gift of flowers. When it comes to the gift of flowers, Mother’s Day is one of the busiest times of year for florists alongside Valentine’s Day and as much as a quarter of the years total flowers are sold at this time of year. Carnations are often the flowers of choice and are included in most bouquets. Spirituality suggested that carnation are the tears of the Virgin Mary who wept at the feet of Jesus on the day he died. Mother’s Day bouquets often include pink and red carnations as a symbol of love, perhaps along with similar coloured roses.
Chocolates are also a popular gift to give at this time of year and companies such as Thorntons will sell an incredible amount of chocolates during the month of March this year. You can find some specially designed chocolates made specifically as gifts for those mother figures.
Going out for a meal is also a popular past time to celebrate and many pubs and restaurants will have been booked up months in advance with many of them offering special offers, including free desserts for the mother.