I understand you guys south of the border are celebrating Memorial Day on Monday, and I also understand it is basically a day for honouring soldiers past and present.
What is the history of having it on the last Monday in May? Remembrance Day (November 11) is that day because that is when the WWI Armistice was signed, but I don’t recall any special significance of the end of May (then again I am certainly no historian, so I pretty much expect somebody to correct me on that aspect:))
I believe the date was significant to the US Civil War, originally, and was called “Decoration Day” with the custom to decorate the tombs and graves of soldiers.
The history of the observance given in the Wiipedia article sounds pretty close to what I’d always understood.
That’s Veteran’s Day. Memorial Day is set aside to honor those who died.
Small corretion: That’s Veterans Day, not Veteran’s Day. Think about it: we honor all veterans, not just one veteran.
Memorial Day, at least in the areas where I have lived (midwest, California) is for honoring all the dead, not just military dead. Many people put flowers on the graves of their dead family members, clean up the plot, polish up the stones, etc. Flags are often put on the graves of veterans but the day is not just for veterans in my experience.
This is what I was brought up to believe about Memorial Day.
More anecdotal evidence: I grew up in the Midwest and always heard of it as being for the military dead only, not for honoring other dead. If family gravestones were spruced up around that time it was usually because you were at the cemetery to clean up the stone of a vet family member and did it while you were there, or because you didn’t want them to look bad when a lot of people might be at the cemetery.
Same as every year, I ran into a veterans’ group selling poppies at the train stations yesterday, so that people could wear them on Monday.
Thanks for the info!
Late spring is a good time for placing flowers on graves.