Memorial Day, first known as Decoration Day, originated in the late 1860s as a time to show tribute to the soldiers who died during the Civil War. Graves were decorated with flowers and prayers were recited.
In 1971, the last Monday in May was declared a national holiday to remember all who have died, not just soldiers. Communities hold Memorial Day parades, music programs, and ceremonies. From the end of May until mid-June, many cemeteries offer worship services for people to gather together.
Following tradition, I visited the graves of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, and placed silk flowers that will stay on the tombstones for a few months. But on one great-grandmother’s grave, I laid a small bouquet of red roses, cut from my backyard, because years ago I was told that Grandma Bertram had said, “If you can’t put fresh flowers on my grave, don’t put any.”
My cousin Alan recently reminded me that we show honor by decorating graves anytime. Alan shared a story about the flowers his mother, my aunt Nell, treasured.
In the spring of 1950, Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky was almost complete and most of the homes along the Cumberland River had been removed, before the river would become Lake Cumberland. Aunt Nell, Uncle B, Uncle B’s brother and his wife took a picnic to a favorite spot along the river where Aunt Nell spotted blooming daffodils near where a home had been.
Alan wrote about his mom: She instructed Dad and my uncle to get a shovel from the car – I guess shovels in trunks were necessary tools during periods of possible snowfalls then – and dig up the flowers so she could take them home and set them out in the yard of their new home built in 1949.
Being a good, young husband and a willing brother-in-law, they did as instructed. When they returned home, again they combined their efforts to set the daffodil bulbs out alongside a driveway that led to the back of the house and a basement garage door.
Those Cumberland River daffodils survived that transplanting, and still do to this day, pushing up through the ground each year as spring arrives and throwing out small, but brightly colored yellow blooms.
When Aunt Nell died in March 2006, Alan asked the florist to pick daffodils from his mother’s yard to make a casket spray. It was a beautiful and a perfect, loving tribute to his mother.
Mid-March, Alan wrote: Last week I placed a few of those bright yellow daffodils on Mom’s grave – not too many – cutting too many at any one time was always frowned upon, although it seems there was always some in a small vase on the kitchen table each mid- March when we gathered to cut my birthday cake.
Memorial Day is celebrated any day we pay honor to those who gave their lives to make our lives better and any time we remember the people we’ve loved.
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Susan Writes 