<P> During the 16th century , people returned to their mother church for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday ; in this context , one 's ' mother church ' was either the church where they were baptised , or the local parish church , or the nearest cathedral ( the latter being the mother church of all the parish churches in a diocese ) . Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone `` a-mothering '' , although whether this term preceded the observance of Mothering Sunday is unclear . In later times , Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother church , usually with their own mothers and other family members . It was often the only time that whole families could gather together , since on other days they were prevented by conflicting working hours , and servants were not given free days on other occasions . </P>
<P> During the 16th century , people returned to their mother church for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday ; in this context , one 's ' mother church ' was either the church where they were baptised , or the local parish church , or the nearest cathedral ( the latter being the mother church of all the parish churches in a diocese ) . Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone `` a-mothering '' , although whether this term preceded the observance of Mothering Sunday is unclear . In later times , Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother church , usually with their own mothers and other family members . It was often the only time that whole families could gather together , since on other days they were prevented by conflicting working hours , and servants were not given free days on other occasions . </P>
when did mothering sunday start in the uk
when did mothering sunday start in the uk
the 16th century
the 16th century