Memorial Day is always a much-needed three-day weekend, the portal into summer, with its barbecues, camping, and outdoor fun, but it’s always bittersweet: a reminder of my older brother and the other military members of all branches who died in service to our country.
Memorial Day has ancient origins: the Greeks and Romans held feasts and parades to celebrate their war dead. The famous general and orator, Pericles, gave a funeral address in 431 B.C. that has many similarities to the Gettysburg Address.
In the US, one of the first memorials was organized by newly-freed slaves in Charleston, who—after the surrender of the Confederacy—gathered to commemorate a new resting site for the Union POWs who’d previously been relegated to a mass grave. Decoration Day was observed in May across the war-torn country, but didn’t become the national holiday we have now until 1971.
Poppies became the symbol for memorializing the dead because of the poem, “In Flanders Field,” in which a Canadian Allied surgeon described the red poppies that covered the battlegrounds.
Blessings upon all those who’ve lost family members, and those who now proudly serve, and a happy and safe weekend to all!
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