USA has a total of 11 holidays this 2023, one of them is due to memorial day o Memorial Day, which is commemorated this Monday, May 29. What is this date about and why is it celebrated on the last Monday of May?
Memorial Day will arrive this 2023 with a festive bridge from May 27 to 29, according to the list approved by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and will allow those days to rest or take a short vacation. But beyond the days of relaxation, learn more about the importance of the date and its origin.
WHAT IS MEMORIAL DAY OR MEMORIAL DAY IN THE UNITED STATES?
Memorial Day or the Day of Commemoration of the Fallen is an important holiday in USA which is intended to honor American soldiers who died in combat, explains the usagov page.
In principle, the objective was to remember those who died in the Civil war, fought from 1861 to 1865, but after the First World War This changed and, since then, that day is remembered for all those who have died serving the country in combat. This includes those killed in recent conflicts, such as the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
WHY IS MEMORIAL DAY HELD ON THE LAST MONDAY IN MAY?
Memorial Day or the Day of Commemoration of the Fallen has been celebrated on the last Monday of May since 1971, when Congress declared it a federal holiday, explains the usagov page.
Origin
The custom of honoring those who have fallen in conflict, however, has been around for more than 150 years. There are several theories about the origin of the so-called Remembrance Day. Officially the birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo (New York) by decision of President Lyndon B. Johnson, since May 1966, indicates Wikipedia.
The date was proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first commemorated on May 30 of that same year.
That day flowers were laid at the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where the remains of John Quincy Marr, the first soldier killed in the Civil War, have rested since 1861. His grave was the first to be decorated with flowers.
What do flowers have to do with the date?
Some historians, precisely, detail that the roots of the date have to do with the flower boom and point out that before it used to be known as Decoration Day, since during the American Civil War several groups of women met on a day of spring and decorated the graves of deceased soldiers with flowers.
Another theory claims that the first Memorial Day took place on May 1, 1865, when a group of African-Americans held a parade in Charleston, California, to honor the war dead.
Similarly, other scholars explain that the roots of this celebration have to do with President Abraham Lincoln, who commemorated the dead at Gettysburg in 1863, considered a predecessor event to Memorial Day.