Three blog posts in one week – I’m on a roll! 😀 From history.com, here is a little backstory:

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.”

Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service.

Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Pretty neat, huh?! As we’ve morphed into the American way of celebrating Mother’s Day by presenting her with a gift of appreciation, I’ve gathered up a few ideas:

Locally grown peonies! Click this photo for the link to Peony Hill Farm’s new webpage. They’re usually in bloom right around Mother’s Day, depending on the weather between now and then.

Continue reading →