Hello, Catherine here from BBC Learning English. Just so you know, this programme is from the BBC Learning English Archive（档案馆）. It was originally（ 最初） broadcast（广播） in March（三月） 2006 on our website. Enjoy! Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Weekender. This Sunday is a special day in Britain.

  It's not an official（ 官方的） national holiday and not everybody will be doing anything different but it is marked in the diary. What day is it? It's Mother's Day or Mothering Sunday and in this programme we'll find out about the origins（起源） of this special day for mothers. bbclearningenglish.com Mothering Sunday is a day when people send cards, flowers and other presents to their mothers. But what's its origin? Where does it come from and why is it held on this particular day?

  I asked some of my colleagues if they knew. No, I don't actually. Can you tell me? No, I have to be honest（诚实的）. I really don't. I just take it as a day of celebrating how great our mums are but I really didn't think about where it came from.

  I think it's something to do with Lent and Easter but I can't remember what. I'm afraid I don't know the origins of Mother's Day. I suspect（怀疑） it's probably something religious（宗教的） but I don't actually know what it is. The understanding of it was that it was the day that all the girls in service were allowed to go home and see their mothers and why it's on this day I can't remember but it might have something to do with Easter but I don't know what the story is. It seems as if most people are not too sure of the origins of Mothering Sunday but they think it has something to do with the Christian religious period of Easter and the six-week period before that called Lent.