There are such holidays, which are not happy at all – they are full of sadness and memories. Memorial Day is one of such holidays. It is one day in a year, which is celebrated in the USA. People remember about all soldier, who died in all the wars, where the USA has ever taken part. Read the article and you will know the history of the day, its traditions and when is Memorial Day in 2018.
From the very beginning, the USA took part in many wars and other conflicts not only with other governments but inside the country and its citizens. Many people died in those wars. First, this holiday appeared after the Civil War, where a lot of military men died. After the World War I people honored soldiers, who took part in other military conflicts and died. Nowadays people thank those, who struggled for the freedom and peaceful life of today’s citizens of the USA and lost their lives for it. In 1971 Memorial Day became the national holiday. From that time people go to cemeteries and memorial complexes, bring flowers and think about those, who died. Many people lost their families and close people, that is why this day is so important for the whole nation. Everybody shows, that every soldier, every person, who struggled for the country, is not forgotten.
When is Memorial Day 2018: traditions and history
When it all only began, people kept to a tradition and the celebration where in May during Monday, which was the last in month. Why has it been like this? It is difficult to say and people have always argued on this topic. The Civil War happened and when it is ended, many people died, many families left without their close people and they didn’t want to lose them forever. Then in a while, the head of National Army proclaimed the official day to celebrate this day. At that time the holiday got another name – Decoration Day. There is no also common opinion about such name. Some people think that it was given because some women groups decorated the graves before the end of the Civil War. But this information is not exact. Nevertheless, it is widely known that after the war people brought thousand of flowers to the cemeteries, so they looked like decorated.
So, the first time, when Memorial Day has been officially celebrated, was May 30. In that day flowers were laid on the grave of Union and Confederate soldiers in the Arlington National cemetery. These actions took place in 1868, but the holiday was not official. People needed it so much and every state sometimes made its own days or gathered and went to cemeteries and churches. That is why in 1966 the USA president Johnson L. make Memorial Day the national holiday officially.
The date of the holiday became not concrete every year because the government wanted to give people more days to celebrate it. Every last day of May every year people honor their close people and other soldiers, who struggled for their free lives.
During these days the whole country dips the flags till the midday, all people visit cemeteries, memorial complexes, visit churches, where special prayers are read, different from those, read in usual days or other holidays. As a tradition, whole families meet each other, spend time together and remember about those, who died in their families. It doesn’t matter what day Memorial Day in 2018 – it is a family holiday and people treat it so much.
How did it all begin
Well, it has a similar holiday – the Veterans Day. Concerning the last holiday, only veterans are honored, dead or alive – it doesn’t matter. But in Memorial Day all people, who died in wars, are honored. Also with time all dead people, it doesn’t matter, in a war or not, are remembered during this holiday.
Though a lot of people really wanted to have one day as a special time for such an important tradition, not all regions accepted it, when the law has been taken. For example, before the law itself, as it has been mentioned, some regions started visit cemeteries ad churches centrally in special days and it was their tradition. After the law, northern states accepted the tradition and were happy for it. But southern states were against and celebrated the holiday on other days, which they thought were more suitable. The situation changed after the World War I when people started to think not only about those, which dead in the civil War but about those, who lost lives for all other people at all.
If you want to know when is Memorial Day in 2018, calendar will help you. This year it will be May 28. In such a way people have an opportunity to have three holidays together, so it is the continuation of the weekend. Actually, it should be mentioned that now the government discusses the idea of changing the date of Memorial Day or making it on any working day. It became a problem, as we can see because nowadays people forgot about the origin of the holiday and treat this day like an extra weekend when they can have fun a and rest. Maybe, the date itself affects people somehow – it is treated like the beginning of summer and thoughts in people’s heads are totally different.
The holiday is also very important because a lot of good traditions were born together with it. For example, many artists drew pictures, devoted to the topic of the holiday; poets regularly wrote touching poems, which people really loved and appreciated. Also, there has been such a tradition, began by an American poet. She started bringing red poppies to the graves to this day. Later she started selling these flowers to her friends and colleagues and spent money for charity – she helped children. Later she began making these flowers by herself and also sell them. Some charity organizations followed her example and also started sell poppies in this day. With the help of this holiday and this tradition not only people became more solid, but they helped children a lot.
Now you know what is the date of Memorial Day 2018, how and why it has been began. This year we obligatory will see great parades on the May 28 and will honor those, who died for us!
