Clare Florist Blog

"There is no velvet so soft as a mother's lap, no rose as lovely as her smile, no path so flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps." (Archibald Thompson)

In Europe in the Middle Ages, Mothering Sunday revolved around the Christian tradition of 'Refreshment Sunday', and the returning of young labourers and apprentices to their homes, but the holiday all but died out by the 19th century. It was revived following the second world war, brought over from the USA where it had become a commercial holiday.

Long before either of these periods, however, ancient peoples recognised the need to honour and celebrate motherhood. These ancient mother's days often revolved around goddesses who personified motherhood.

Gaia was the great Earth Mother of the ancient Greeks, mother of the sea and sky. She is still worshipped today in Neopagan and Wiccan circles, as the being that is the Earth and as the Goddess of creation.

Another celebrated Greek mother goddess was Gaia's daughter, Rhea, mother of the gods. The Romans called her Cybele and held festivities in honour of her from March 22nd-25th. Like Gaia, she represented the great mother Earth, the fertile fields and wild mountains. The celebrations held in her honour were so wild that Cybele's followers were banished from Rome!

Meanwhile, in the Celtic tradition it was Brigid who was the goddess of unity, healing, childbirth, poetry and fire. She was worshipped in the early Spring celebration of Imbolc, which marked the first of the ewes' milk — the sacred motherly nourishment. After the pagan traditions were overtaken by Christianity, Brigid persisted in the form of St. Brigid, patron saint of Ireland, whose saint day is February 1st, the eve of Candlemass and Imbolc.

As these and the hundreds of other worldwide mother Goddesses suggest, the invaluable and  difficult role that mothers hold —Goddesses, in a sense, every one— is well worthy of honouring.

A Wonderful Mother  (Pat O'Reilly)

God made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And He molded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks, fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.

A couple of weekends ago, I was lucky enough to catch a preview screening of Juno, which was released on February 8th, in time for Valentine's Day. It's an offbeat comedy which tells the story of the title character Juno, an American high-school girl faced with an unplanned pregnancy. In the film, Juno explains the origin of her unusual name, which is that of the Roman Queen of the Gods. What they don't say in the film is that the goddess Juno was associated with women and marriage and that February 14th was once a holiday in her honour. In fact, this may be part of the reason that the tradition of Valentine's Day arose. The following day, February 15th was also a festival in ancient Rome, known as Lupercalia. One of the customs at this time was that on the eve of Lupercalia unmarried Roman girls would put their names on slips of paper that would be placed in jars. The young men of the place would then take names from the jars to determine which girl would be their partner for the festivities. They might even be paired for the entire year, and often their chance partnership would extend into romance and marriage.

A similar lottery became popular in Britain in the Middle Ages. The names of young men and women would be drawn from a bowls in pairs and the men would wear the name of their selected valentine on their sleeve for a week (perhaps the origin of the modern day expression “to wear your heart on your sleeve”). They would exchange gifts and the man would be honour bound to protect his young lady in the year ahead.

And what of St Valentine after whom the day is named? There are a number of stories and different St Valentines but the best known tale tells of a time when the Emperor Claudius II decreed that all marriages and engagements would be cancelled so that his soldiers would not be distracted from their soldierly duties by the commitments of love and family. St Valentine, who was a priest in Rome at the time, secretly married couples against the will of Claudius and when this was discovered he was sentenced to death by beating and beheading. Thus he was martyred, as it so happens, on February 14th and declared the Saint of Lovers. He is also said to have cured the jailer's daughter of blindness and, before he was dragged off for his sentence, to have left her a farewell note signed “from your Valentine”, as we might sign our Valentine's cards today.

Happy Valentine's Day!