Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and honored the war dead of the Civil War with flowers on their graves. After WWI it became Memorial Day and honored all war dead, or even all deceased friends and family depending on your customs.
When I was very young, I sold paper red poppies with my siblings to raise money for the American Legion, of which my dad was a district commander in Illinois. When I was older I remember attending services at the band shell in Mt. Morris, where a senior student was chosen to recite the poem, "In Flanders' Field." First my grandparents would decorate my uncle's grave (died in China in 1944) at the Ashton, IL cemetery; then later my mom and aunt; and after they died, my father went to the cemetery with the flowers. Now they are all gone, but I hope there will be a few family members to go to the cemetery in Ashton and Mt. Morris to decorate and memorialize.
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When I was a child (I am 60), "Decoration Day" Sunday was the ONLY Sunday we were permitted to "skip church". It was almost like a family reunion, as shirttail cousins from OH and KY came to visit the graves of loved ones who were buried in IN. (It almost seems as though we took a picnic lunch, but I think my memory is exaggerated there.) My grandmother would save coffee cans throughout the year, suround them with aluminum foil and fill them beautifully with iris, peonies, phlox and whatever was blooming at the time. Those were placed on the graves of EVERY SINGLE relative in the cemetary. The "store bought" wreaths were reserved for her 3 precious children who each died before the age of 2. I got the feeling my Grandfather thought that was a waste of money, but my Grandmother would not have had it any other way. Now that they are both gone (along with my mother), her only surviving child is 80 and not able to decorate. I do not know what will happen to those "babies' graves" now. My husband wasn't raised with that tradition being of any importance. He feels it is a waste of $$ also. I only have one daughter and strongly suspect the tradition will die out with me...
Thanks for this--I too remember those homemade canisters and the flowers from the yard that bloom in May. But Sue, we know what will happen to those graves. Someday they will be opened and we'll all be together with the Lord.
AND that also will be a family reunion. Not breaking faith we went yesterday but the flowers were plastic and not real as we remember they once were from our own yards and gardens.
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