Boris Johnson’s belated advice to people not to visit their mother on Sunday is a rare accurate statement for him even if it does display a complete absence of understanding of traditional British culture.
Lent is the period in the Christian calendar before Easter when people stick to an austere diet, until very recently suitable for the current Government. In 2020 that tends to mean that people give up things that they like, cake, beer etc for the duration.
Given the movable date of Easter, Lent invariably contains within it a number of religious festivals which have to be marked and indeed celebrated. Probably the most well-known of these is Mothering Sunday which is meant to take place on the last Sunday in March but this year is on the second last Sunday…
Traditionally it is not about mothers, that was of course a twentieth century commercial invention. Rather it was about communities and families coming together during Lent . It was marked with a spicy fruit cake- simnel cake- and in some areas such as Lancashire a spiced ale- braggert. In any case drinking was ok after sunset.
So if you are feeling the privations of Lent, Sunday is a good time to relax them a little and all in the best of traditions but not of course in the current circumstances communally. Stay at home and communicate on-line (tbh that’s mainly what Ive been doing for years anyway)
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