History of Memorial Day
Memorial Day is an American holiday. This Memorial Day weekend feels very different from years past. Even though we are not having lock-down, stay-at-home orders in Montana, still most of us don’t feel free to have a large gathering with a picnic potluck as we usually do. We need to find new ways of honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.
Memorial Day is this Monday, May 25th, a day for us in the USA to honor the men and women who died while serving in the United States Military. It was originally known as Decoration Day after the tradition of decorating soldiers’ graves with flowers. Women in Pennsylvania began this practice as early as 1864 following the end of the Civil War. Soon other states and cities did the same.
Waterloo, New York, held an annual community-wide event beginning in 1866. This led the town to be recognized as the birthplace of Memorial Day by the federal government in 1966. Memorial Day became an official federal holiday in 1971. In 2000, Congress passed a resolution, urging Americans to set aside 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day “to observe a national moment of remembrance to honor the men and women of the United States military who died in the pursuit of freedom and peace.”
Do You?
Do you celebrate Memorial Day? If so, how are my fellow Americans planning on celebrating Memorial Day this year?
I’m curious: How do those of you in other countries remember the people in your nation who have served in your military (or do you)?
Wonderful Dream
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful dream-come-true to have us all just love one another? No fences, no walls, no borders, no nation against nation… just one world, unified, working in tandem for a better life for everyone?
Wouldn’t it be a dream-come-true if we all felt a sense of freedom without anyone having to die to maintain it?
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful dream if everyone stopped hoarding and just shared generously? Share toilet paper! Share the Good News! Share LOVE!
and a lotta LOVE!
Our military generously give their ALL.
The least we can do is give them a day of Gratitude for their service…
and a dream that one day we will all live as ONE,
end all wars, and live in PEACE!
God bless you, my dear Blogging family.
I pray that you have a peace-filled weekend.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
Hugs, JanBeek
Wait, don’t leave until you comment!!
Tell me about how you honor your military
or tell me about your dreams for ONE WORLD of LOVE!
Comments on: "Must We Die for Freedom?" (5)
Thanks, Jan, for an excellent post.
Our days of remembrance are November 11, Remembrance Day, and July 1 also, here in Newfoundland, Canada.
We have a large red-granite cenotaph in front of our library, which is called Memorial Library.I often go there. There is a little park, and benches, and I sit there and pray in thanksgiving for our military members and their bravery. 😊🌷
What a beautiful practice, Sally. Thank you for sharing. ❤️👍🏽
Your memorial library sounds wonderful with its little park and benches. What a great idea. <3
Jan, I appreciate you sharing these details about Memorial Day. I was reading the local paper yesterday and discovered one tradition used in many Memorial Day observances . . . the public reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Yes, that is a wonderful address. Both my mother and my mother-in-law had it memorized. The generation before mine did lots more memorizing than I did.