Mother's Day in its earliest origins goes right back to Ancient Greece and probably much older, to the days when a number of deities were worshipped including, and often most importantly, the mother or nature goddess.

The festival we have today is based on later traditions in several European countries. In particular, in the Tudor period in England there grew a tradition of a day called Mothering Sunday, which was celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent, which would be in March. The most important part of this festival was that young people living and working far from home, such as domestic servants, would be given this day off to go and visit their parents, especially their mothers. Later it became quite common for the employers of the young people to give them gifts to take home; in many cases, the mistress of the house where they worked might bake a simnel cake (now more often associated with Easter) and give it to the young servant or apprentice to take home.