Facts About Memorial Day
Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May every year. It is in place to honor the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in battle.
Before, it was known as Decoration Day but was changed to Memorial Day in 1971. This was also when it began to be recognized as an official federal holiday.
The first celebrations of modern-day Memorial Day in the United States started in the 1860s, after the Civil War. This was the deadliest war in American History.
Memorial Day is the reason for the creation of the first national cemeteries. They only had soldiers who lost their lives in battle buried here.
Waterloo, New York, had the first official annual, community-wide celebration of Memorial Day. The whole town left their normal day-to-day activities to celebrate.
More than 20 cities in the United States claim to be the birthplace of the holiday. However, Waterloo is the official one.
The concept of commemorating fallen soldiers can be traced back to 431 B.C. by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Every year, they would decorate graves, have a feast, and overall honor these men.
Many major cities across the United States today celebrate Memorial Day with parades annually. For example, Chicago, New York City, and Washington D.C. all hold parades. These parades have military personnel and other veteran organizations within the parade.
Other celebrations of the holiday today are barbecues, spending time with family and friends, and visiting graves.
People wear a red poppy or a red flower on Memorial Day. This was started by a poem by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. In the poem, he gives an anecdote of the war. After a bloody battle, there was a bush of red flowers in the background of the war. It became a symbol of remembrance.
https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-memorial-day
No comments:
Post a Comment