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 The
City of Burbank
Celebrates
Memorial Day
Memorial Day began as a memorial for Civil War veterans. It has become both,
a National Decoration Day of family graves, and the holiday that opens the
summer season. It is celebrated with backyard barbecues, outdoor picnics,
and parades.
Waterloo, New York was recognized by President Lyndon Johnson and both
houses of Congress, as the birthplace of Memorial Day because the town
decorated the graves of Civil War veterans as early as May 5, 1866. The
claim is contested by Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, which claims to have begun
the practice of decorating soldier's graves two years earlier than Waterloo.
Another source claims that two years after the Civil War, it was southern
women in Columbus, Mississippi who decorated the braves of both Confederate
and Union men. Nevertheless, sources agree that it was General John A. Logan
of the Grand Army of the Republic who designated May 30, 1868," as a day for
strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who
died in defense of their country, and whose bodies now lie in almost every
city, village, or hamlet churchyard in the land...It is the purpose of the
commander-in-chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will
be kept from year to year while a survivor of the war remains to honor the
memory of the departed."
No survivor of that war remains, but the memories of it grow longer. As do
our memories of the parades with floats; civic organizations and drum
majorettes twirling their batons; lines and lines of young veterans from The
Gulf War and shorter lines of older men who saw service in the Second World
War. As long as there are wars, there will be veterans and casualties. We
will still decorate the graves of those men whose bodies came home and
remember those who don't.
The custom of placing flowers upon graves is an old one, and exists in many
countries. The Greeks had rites called zoai, which were performed over each
new grave. If the flowers took root and blossomed on the graves, it meant
the souls were sending back the message that they had found happiness. The
Roman festival, called Parentalia, or Day of the Fathers, lasted for eight
days in February--violets and roses were the special flowers. Whatever the
flower, wherever the grave, this placing of flowers upon graves has always
seemed the natural thing to do.
Today, most states officially recognize the May Memorial Day as a legal
holiday, but it is not celebrated on May 30th in every state. Over time the
holiday has expanded to encompass our other national wars. Although
Veteran's Day is celebrated as well, Memorial Day has become the most
important day of recognition of our armed forces.
Excerpts from:
Krythe, Maymie, American Holidays; Harper and Row, New York, 1962.
McSpadden, J. Walker, The Book of Holidays;
Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1958.
Santino, Jack, All Around The Year; University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
1994.
The First Memorial Day
According to one writer, the first Memorial Day service took place on Belle
Isle in the James River, at Richmond, Virginia. The school superintendent,
Andrew Washburn, and F.B. May, the Mayor, planned a program for May 30,
1866. Several teachers, and Miss Gibson, a nurse, went to the burial ground
of Union soldiers, who had died during the war in a Confederate prison
located there. It was raining when Mr. May set up a cross and placed
bouquets at each headboard, Miss Gibson sang a hymn, and the others joined
in the refrain. R.R. Wilson, who described the scene in the New York
Tribune, stated that suddenly the clouds parted and a bright ray of sunshine
shone on the cross.
The first official observance in 1868, included a program at the National
Cemetery at Arlington and memorial services in various communities, the idea
gradually spread around the country. In 1873, New York was the first state
to make the day a legal holiday; and others soon followed. Now the occasion
is set by Presidential Proclamation.
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