Mothering Sunday and Simnel Day

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The fourth Sunday in Lent is Mothering Sunday, or Mother's Day in England and has been celebrated since the 16th century. Originally, it was a festival day that honoured the blessed Virgin Mary, the role model for all Mothers and indeed, she who is considered to be the mother of us all. It became a day to honour all Mothers. Mothers are given a gift and a card often. Some Churches actually give flowers to the children of the congregation to present to their mothers.

Another aspect of this festival is the visit to the 'Mother Church' which either is the local cathedral or the Church where an individual received his/her baptism. The tradition was known as 'going a mothering'. In previous centuries, those who were in service usually were given the day off to visit their Mothers. Often it was the only day in the year when they were allowed an entire day to visit their families. The housekeeper or cook would allow maids in the household to bake a cake to take home to their mothers. Other special gifts might be a rare flower from the hothouse or fresh eggs.

The special cake baked on Mothering Day was the Simnel Cake and for this reason, Mothering Sunday is known as Simnel Sunday as well.

Robert Herrick wrote:

'I'll to thee a Simnell bring 'gainst thou go'st a mothering,
So that, when she blesseth thee, half that blessing thou'lt give to me.'

A Simnel Cake is a traditional fruit cake frosted with a layer of marzipan with 11 marzipan balls to represent, it is said, the eleven loyal apostles who did not betray Our Lord. The Simnel Cake could not be eaten until Easter as Mothering Sunday always occurred during Lent. It therefore was a cake that would improve with age, as do most heavy fruit cakes.

Nowadays, many people simply make the Simnel Cake on Easter rather than preparing it on Mothering Day during the Lenten Fast, although the Lenten Fast is a practice that is not honoured universally in te 21st century. There was a time, however, when Lenten Fasts actually were enforced by the Church.

A Recipe for a traditional Simnel Cake:

300g or 10 oz. self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon mixed spices
100g or 4 oz. butter
110g or 4 oz. brown sugar
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
350g or 12 oz. of mixed dry fruit
2 eggs
100 ml of milk for mixing

Icing:
700g. Marzipan
2 tablespoons of icing sugar

Oven: 150 C or 325 F

Mix the butter into the flour by hand, then add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add the Golden syrup and eggs. Add sufficient milk to form a soft but not liquid mass. Stir well to combine all ingredients, then pour half the mixture into a greased deep round 8 inch tin. Divide the Marzipan into three equal parts.

Roll out one third of the marzipan and place on top of the mixture in the tin. Add the rest of the cake mixture and make the surface smooth, then bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for ten minutes, and turn it out onto a rack. Roll out another third of the marzipan. Mix icing sugar with a little water to form a paste and pour this on the top of the cake, then place the rolled marzipan on top.

Make a little pattern with a fork or other implement round the edges of the marzipan.

Form 11 balls of equal size with the remainder of the marzipan, dip each into the icing sugar mixture, then place on the edges of the cake to form a circle.

If you wish, you can pour the rest of the icing sugar mixture into the very centre of the cake and add ornaments or other decorations such as flowers.

A Salute to Cats on Mother's Day

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There's an old insult to the effect that 'A Cat would make a better Mother than YOU', and indeed it is one of the insults hurled at Scarlett by Rhett Butler when he has become totally disenchanted with her general selfishness and obsession with her fantasy vision of Ashley.

I never comprehended this, even before I had Cats of my own. Cats are among the most conscientious, loving and attentive parents in the world. Both males and females tend to be extremely loving towards their offspring and any other Cats in the household, whether or not related by blood. I have known Males to sit with kittens while the Mother was having a quick meal. My cat Isis would stand aside to allow her kittens to eat, never touching the food herself until they had their fill.
Mother Cats moreover have been known to adopt young animals from other species. Cats who nurse orphaned puppies are common... This photograph is of a Cat in Amman who adopted chicks as well!

I have far more faith in the natural maternal instinct of other Mammals and creatures than I do in humans, in all honesty. Humans have been known to perpetrate every crime imaginable on THEIR offspring, but animals in general treat do right by theirs.

I therefore believe that any human Mother should be proud if some one declares: 'You are almost as good a Mother as a Cat would be!'

I am grateful to my Cats in the past who allowed me to participate in the extraordinary miracle of birth by witnessing and aiding in the delivery of their litters. There is nothing to match the thrill of the moment when new life arrives in the world. Mother's Day is an ancient Spring festival that celebrates fertility and life. The Mother is the fountain of life, the first source of life's nourishment for her child as well as the guardian of the hearth and all traditions.

There are those who claim Mother's Day to be an artificial holiday created by card makers... but the Wheel of the Year embodies the entire cycle of life, death and rebirth and Mother's Day is very much a part of that natural cycle.

A Mother and her Daughter

This photographs shows a mother and her daughter celebrating the Festival of Peach Blossoms in Japan by preparing a display of Hina dolls. I would like to dedicate this photograph to my own mother, who introduced me to the world of magic embodied in the love of dolls.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day

In the United States, today is recognised as 'Mother's Day', a day when every mother is honoured. Above all others perhaps in Western civilisation, Mary, Queen of Heaven is honoured as the ultimate example of motherhood. If God is Love, then Mary surely is the epitome of that love in earthly form. There is no greater example of the manifestation of love than motherhood. To carry life within one's own body for nine months, bring the child into this world and then to nurture and protect that child is a tremendous example of love. Although procreation is a natural part of life and one can see Nature at work in this fashion in every species, nonetheless bearing a child is a tremendous undertaking. At the risk of alienating many people, I therefore would suggest that no one but the individual who will bear that child should have the right to decide whether or not to go through with it.

A child deprived of a mother never quite overcomes the sense of loss this situation creates. No matter what the cause, there is a feeling of abandonment, of having been cheated of a blessing that most people take for granted. I have known quite a few individuals who lost their mothers for one reason or another when they were quite young. The tragedy does not destroy their lives by any means, but it never ceases to affect them and the way they view life.

Motherhood has to be one of the most weighty responsibilities in life. The least difficult aspects of that responsibility may be the need to protect and nurture the child. One of the more thorny aspects is the fact that a mother, whether or not she wishes it, becomes a role model for a child and is placed in a position where she teaches by example. For a girl, the mother becomes the role model of everything that a woman should (or should not) be. For a boy, the mother most often represents a model by which he will judge his future wife. In other words, a mother has tremendous influence not only in childhood but the entire life of her children.

One of the lessons one must learn quite early if one is to remain sane is how to recognise the essentially human, flawed nature of one's parents and to understand that they often are not prepared for some of the situations they encounter, and therefore can make mistakes like any one else. Those mistakes can be quite costly but they are the mistakes of human beings who usually simply are trying to do their best. Too many people allow themselves to become embittered by some mistake their parents made at some point, failing to allow their mothers and fathers the same tolerance with which they excuse their own failings.

A mother has a duty as well where the mistakes of her children are concerned. She must allow her children to make their own errors and not try to rule their actions from the cradle onward. I have seen cats with their children. They allow their children to explore, even when danger lurks. They try to intervene where they can, but they do not imprison their kittens in a 'safe space' in the effort to protect them from life's cruelty. Moreover, they can be quite fierce in their 'disciplinary' actions as well as their 'sparring'. If they did not teach their kittens how to fight as well as what was permitted in feline social intercourse, they would be failing in their maternal duties. It is only through pain and error that a child learns. One of the most difficult achievements of any mother must be to be forced to stand back and simply witness her child's pain and suffering. Moreover, pain and suffering can be the price of great glory or heroism as well.

In this respect, Mary offers a supreme example of a mother who shared her son's pain and trials fully without trying to prevent him from following his chosen path. She watched and lent him her strength and faith as he endured his Passion. I cannot imagine the depth of pain experienced by a parent forced to witness the torture and finally the death of her child. To do so while projecting unconditional love and acceptance at every step has to be true heroism.

This is not the Mother's Day post I intended to write. On the other hand, it is not a bad thing to salute the courage of all Mothers as well as the incredible love their role requires.

An old song dedicated to Mary salutes her in the following manner:
Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above,
Hail Mother of Mercy and of Love.'