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Show Memorial Day needs to be celebrated as originally intended Is Memorial Day a holiday set aside to remember the dead or is it a three-day excuse for leaving town? Days set apart for ceremonies in honor of the dead are as old as recorded history. The Greeks performed impressive rites, called Zoai, at each new grave. This involved offerings of olives and flowers. The Romans honored their ancestors in a festival called the Parentalia, celebrated from Feb. 13 to 21. During this period, temples were closed. Tombs were decorated with wreaths and flowers. The custom of setting aside a day or a period of time for honoring the dead by decorating graves with flowers continued through the centuries in various forms. Our Memorial Day tradition started two years after the Civil War when the New York Tribune printed this information, "The women of Columbus, Miss., have shown themselves impartial im-partial in their offerings made to the memory of the dead. They strewed flowers both on the graves of the Confederate and of the National soldiers." This practice spread to other communities and other cemeteries as a nation divided by Civil War found a way to use the past and bring unity to their nation by honoring all dead, military or civilian. In May 1868, Adjutant-General N. P. Chipman suggested to National Commander John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic that this organization should inaugurate the custom of spreading flowers on the graves of soldiers at some uniform time. Gen. Logan immediately issued an order naming the 30th day of May, 1868, "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.. .It is the hope that it will be kept up from year to year while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of the departed." Decoration Day was the original name for this American day honoring the dead. This term was thought to be too superficial super-ficial to express the ideas and emotions to which the occasion was dedicated. The holiday's name was changed to Memorial Day in about 1890. As the Civil War veterans died, the solemn tone of Memorial Day began to shift more towards a day that included some recreational activities. The emotion surrounding the two World Wars and the Korean Conflict kept Americans aware of the original purpose of this holiday. Until about 25 years ago, American Legion groups held a special patriotic program in nearly every cemetery nationwide. This tradition has almost stopped as people lost interest in the serious side of this holiday. The change from celebrating Memorial Day on May 30 to celebrating it on the last Monday of May has shifted the emphasis em-phasis even further away from honoring the dead. How many families visit cemeteries on one of the three days of the Memorial weekend? How many young people even know where their ancestors are buried? Memorial Day can serve a dual purpose. This year, before your family leaves for Lake Powell, California or Arizona, pick a few flowers and stop by the cemetery where some of your ancestors are buried. Tell your children some of the fami-i fami-i ly stories about the people who lie beneath the headstones. Share your heritage with your children. It will be important to you and to them in future years. |