Their traditions and ours: Lent & Mothering Sunday
Lent is the period in the Christian calendar before Easter when people stick to an austere diet, suitable for the current Government. In 2021 that tends to mean that people give up things that they like, cake, beer etc for the duration.
I’ve given up shaving for Lent as usual, but I do prune my beard to promote Spring growth on occasion. This of course is all quite in line with the traditions of the Church of England that tend to have fairly flexible rules.
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 takes place in the middle of Lent.
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 and lockdown, Sunday may be a good time to relax them a little and all in the best of traditions, and what better time to come together as a community. Provided that is you can work out what the latest lockdown related restrictions are on who you can meet and where, depending on which bit of the four nations you find yourself.
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