For many Americans, Memorial Day signifies a long weekend of barbeques. School age kids see Memorial Day as the beginning of summer. Most of all, though, I hope that all of us as Americans reserve this last Monday in May as a day to honor our fallen service members. If your family doesn’t have any traditions built around this important American holiday, let me give you some history and suggestions!
Did you know that the timing and traditions — even the name of this holiday — are all relatively new? In fact, until 1971, it was known as “Decoration Day,” a tradition stretching back to the years immediately after the Civil War, when our communities tended to the remains and graves of an unprecedented number of fallen soldiers. This tradition of visiting and caring for cemeteries and memorials turned into an annual remembrance.
The first official Decoration Day was May 30, 1868. Ohio Rep. James A. Garfield (former general and future President of the United States) addressed a crowd of 5,000 people gathered at Arlington National Cemetery. He said, “Hither our children’s children shall come to pay their tribute of grateful homage. … From many thousand homes, whose light was put out when a soldier fell, there go forth today to join these solemn processions loving kindred and friends, from whose heart the shadow of grief will never be lifted till the light of the eternal world dawns upon them.”
Local municipalities and states adopted their own ceremonies, and as time went on, Memorial Day began to replace Decoration Day as the commonly used name. Not until 1968 did the U.S. government pass the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, putting major holidays including Memorial Day, on specific Mondays. That law, which went into effect in 1971, was the official codification of Memorial Day by that name.
My suggestion to you is to spend time this weekend visiting cemeteries or memorials, reminding your children (and yourself) what so many of our American ancestors sacrificed to give us this beautiful day as free men.
This post originally appeared at https://phyllisschlafly.com/national-sovereignty/defense/the-history-of-decoration-day/