Memorial Day

Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day]) is a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. From 1868 to 1970, it was observed on May 30. Since 1971, it has been observed on the last Monday of May.

Wikipedia article: Memorial Day

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials on Memorial Day to honor and mourn those who died while serving in the U.S. military. Many volunteers place American flags on the graves of military personnel in national cemeteries. Memorial Day is also considered the unofficial beginning of summer.

The first national observance of Memorial Day occurred on May 30, 1868. Then known as Decoration Day, the holiday was proclaimed by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic ^↗ to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the Civil War. This national observance was preceded by many local ones between the end of the Civil War and Logan's declaration. Many cities and people have claimed to be the first to observe it. However, the National Cemetery Administration, a division of the Department of Veterans Affairs, credits Mary Ann Williams with originating the "idea of strewing the graves of Civil War soldiers—Union and Confederate" with flowers.

Official recognition as a holiday spread among the states, beginning with New York in 1873. By 1890, every Union state had adopted it. The world wars turned it into a day of remembrance for all members of the U.S. military who fought and died in service. In 1971, Congress standardized the holiday as "Memorial Day" and changed its observance to the last Monday in May.

Two other days celebrate those who have served or are serving in the U.S. military: Armed Forces Day (which is earlier in May), an unofficial U.S. holiday for honoring those currently serving in the armed forces, and Veterans Day (on November 11), which honors all those who have served in the United States Armed Forces.

Poppies

Wikipedia article: Remembrance poppy

In 1915, following the Second Battle of Ypres, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a physician with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields". Its opening lines refer to the fields of poppies that grew among the soldiers' graves in Flanders. Inspired by the poem, YWCA worker Moina Michael attended a YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference three years later, wearing a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributing over two dozen more to others present. The National American Legion adopted in 1920 the poppy as its official symbol of remembrance.

Related traditions

Decoration Day (tradition)

Wikipedia article: Decoration Day (tradition)

Decoration Days in Southern Appalachia and Liberia are a tradition which arose by the 19th century. Decoration practices are localized and unique to individual families, cemeteries, and communities, but common elements that unify the various Decoration Day practices are thought to represent syncretism of predominantly Christian cultures in 19th century Southern Appalachia with pre-Christian influences from Scotland, Ireland, and African cultures. Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions are thought to have more in common with one another than with United States Memorial Day traditions which are focused on honoring the military dead. Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions pre-date the United States Memorial Day holiday.

According to scholars Alan and Karen Jabbour, "the geographic spread ... from the Smokies to northeastern Texas and Liberia, offer strong evidence that the southern Decoration Day originated well back in the nineteenth century. The presence of the same cultural tradition throughout the Upland South argues for the age of the tradition, which was carried westward (and eastward to Africa) by nineteenth-century migration and has survived in essentially the same form till the present."

While these customs may have inspired in part rituals to honor military dead like Memorial Day, numerous differences exist between Decoration Day customs and Memorial Day, including that the date is set differently by each family or church for each cemetery to coordinate the maintenance, social, and spiritual aspects of decoration.

In film, literature, and music

Films

In Memorial Day, a 2012 war film starring James Cromwell, Jonathan Bennett, and John Cromwell, a character recalls and relives memories of World War II.[citation needed]

Music

• American rock band Drive-By Truckers released a Jason Isbell–penned song titled "Decoration Day" on their 2003 album of the same title.
• American composer Charles Ives titled the second movement of his A Symphony: New England Holidays, "Decoration Day".

Poetry

Poems commemorating Memorial Day include:

• Francis M. Finch's "The Blue and the Gray" (1867)[85]
• Michael Anania's "Memorial Day" (1994)[86]
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Decoration Day" (1882)[87]

See also

Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May, a more narrowly observed remembrance honoring those currently serving in the U.S. military Armistice Day, November 11, the original name of Veterans Day in the

United States

• Confederate Memorial Day, observed on various dates in many states in the South in memory of those killed fighting for the Confederacy during the American Civil War
• Memorial Day massacre of 1937, May 30, held to remember demonstrators shot by police in Chicago
• Nora Fontaine Davidson, credited with the first Memorial Day ceremony in Petersburg, Virginia
• Patriot Day, September 11, in memory of people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks

United States military casualties of war

Veterans Day, November 11, in memory of American military deaths during World War I. See Remembrance Day for similar observances in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth nations. Other countries

• ANZAC Day, April 25, an analogous observance in Australia and New Zealand
• Armistice Day, November 11, the original name of Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth nations
• Heroes' Day, various dates in various countries recognizing national heroes
• International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, May 29, international observance recognizing United Nations peacekeepers
• Remembrance Day, November 11, a similar observance in Canada, the United Kingdom, and many other Commonwealth nations originally marking the end of World War I
• Remembrance of the Dead ("Dodenherdenking"), May 4, a similar observance in the Netherlands
• Volkstrauertag ("People's Mourning Day"), a similar observance in Germany usually in November
• Yom Hazikaron (Israeli memorial day), the day before Independence Day (Israel), around Iyar 4
• Decoration Day (Canada), a Canadian holiday that recognizes veterans of Canada's military which has largely been eclipsed by the similar Remembrance Day
• Memorial Day (South Korea), June 6, the day to commemorate the men and women who died while in military service during the Korean War and other significant wars or battles
• Victoria Day, a Canadian holiday on the last Monday before May 25 each year, lacks the military memorial aspects of Memorial Day but serves a similar function as marking the start of cultural summer

External links

More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Memorial_Day ]

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