#annual gravesite decoration

[stlazarusgravesiteservices]

Website: https://www.stlazarusgravesiteservices.com

Address: 17 N 5th Avenue #1046, Beech Grove, Indiana 46107, USA

St Lazarus Gravesite Services specializes in the meticulous care of gravesites. Their offerings include tombstone cleaning, plot maintenance, and decoration services for various occasions. With a commitment to using gentle, environmentally friendly methods, they assure the respectful and professional upkeep of your loved ones' final resting places.

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[rayspookyhistory]

𓉸ྀི HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 𓉸ྀི

Halloween, celebrated on October 31st, has a rich history rooted in ancient traditions and diverse cultural practices. While today’s Halloween is known for costumes, trick-or-treating, and eerie decorations, its origins reveal a complex tapestry of customs from various cultures.

Origins in Samhain

The origins of Halloween can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, observed by the Celts in Ireland and other parts of Europe over 2,000 years ago. Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, a time when the boundary between the living and the dead was believed to be particularly thin. On the night of October 31st, the Celts believed that the souls of the deceased returned to the earth. To honor these spirits and protect themselves, they lit bonfires and wore costumes, often made from animal skins.

The festival held significant agricultural importance and was imbued with spiritual beliefs. The Celts thought the presence of the dead could bring either fortune or mischief, prompting rituals to appease these spirits. It was common to leave food and drink outside homes to satisfy wandering souls.

Transition to Halloween

By the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as All Saints' Day, intended to honor all saints and martyrs. The evening before became known as All Hallows' Eve, which eventually transformed into Halloween. The Catholic Church's efforts to Christianize pagan practices led to a blend of religious observance and folk traditions, paving the way for the Halloween we recognize today.

In the 19th century, Halloween began to gain traction in the United States, especially among Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine. These immigrants brought their Samhain customs to America, which evolved into practices like guising—children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door for treats. This practice laid the foundation for modern trick-or-treating, which became widely popular by the early 20th century.

Halloween Today

Modern Halloween features a variety of customs, including costume parties, haunted houses, and trick-or-treating. The holiday has transformed into a significant commercial event in the United States, with billions of dollars spent annually on costumes, decorations, and candy. This commercialization has shifted some aspects of the holiday away from its spiritual origins, emphasizing entertainment and community engagement.

Cross-Cultural Parallels

While Halloween has distinct origins, many cultures worldwide celebrate similar festivals that honor the dead and explore themes of the supernatural. These celebrations reflect local customs, beliefs, and historical contexts.

Dia de los Muertos (Mexico)

Celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a vibrant holiday honoring deceased loved ones. Families create ofrendas (altars) adorned with photographs, food, marigolds, and candles to welcome back the spirits. This celebration blends indigenous beliefs with Catholic traditions, emphasizing joyful remembrance rather than fear of death. Festivities include parades, traditional dances, and the creation of intricate sugar skulls, symbolizing the connection between the living and the dead.

Obon (Japan)

Obon, celebrated in mid-August, is a Buddhist festival honoring the spirits of ancestors. Families light lanterns to guide the spirits home and engage in traditional dances called Bon Odori. Offerings of food are made at gravesites and altars, reflecting the belief that ancestors return during this time. Obon emphasizes gratitude and respect for ancestors, mirroring Halloween's focus on honoring the deceased but with a stronger communal aspect.

Chuseok (South Korea)

Known as the Korean harvest festival, Chuseok occurs in late September or early October, providing families with an opportunity to gather and pay respects to ancestors through Charye (ritual ceremonies). Traditional foods like songpyeon (rice cakes) are prepared, symbolizing gratitude for the harvest. This celebration emphasizes family ties and respect for heritage, akin to the familial aspects of Halloween.

Hungry Ghost Festival (China)

Celebrated during the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the Hungry Ghost Festival honors spirits believed to return to the living world. Families prepare offerings of food, incense, and paper money to appease these wandering souls. Performances, such as Chinese opera, are often held to entertain the spirits. This festival underscores the importance of honoring ancestors and reflects cultural beliefs about the interconnectedness of the living and the dead.

Pchum Ben (Cambodia)

This 15-day festival, occurring in September and October, honors deceased relatives through offerings and prayers at pagodas. Cambodians believe that during this time, the gates of hell open, allowing spirits to receive offerings from the living. Families gather to share meals and remember their ancestors, emphasizing communal ties and respect for the deceased, similar to the communal aspects seen in Halloween celebrations.

The history of Halloween is a complex interplay of ancient traditions, religious practices, and cultural adaptations. While it has evolved into a festive occasion marked by fun and frivolity, its roots reflect humanity’s enduring relationship with death and the afterlife. The global parallels found in other cultures emphasize a universal desire to honor those who have passed, highlighting both shared values and unique interpretations of life and death. As Halloween continues to evolve, it serves as a vivid example of how cultural practices can transform and adapt, preserving essential human connections across time and geography. Understanding these connections deepens our appreciation for Halloween, revealing it as part of a broader human narrative that spans cultures and centuries.

dont kill me i know this is rushed im posting this last minute

[reasoningdaily]

Nowadays, Memorial Day honors veterans of all wars, but its roots are in America’s deadliest conflict, the Civil War. Approximately 620,000 soldiers died, about two-thirds from disease.

The work of honoring the dead began right away all over the country, and several American towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Researchers have traced the earliest annual commemoration to women who laid flowers on soldiers’ graves in the Civil War hospital town of Columbus, Miss., in April 1866. But historians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers’ graves a year earlier, to make sure their story gets told too.

Clubhouse at the race course where Union soldiers were held prisoner.

Civil war photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

In the approximately 10 days leading up to the event, roughly two dozen African American Charlestonians reorganized the graves into rows and built a 10-foot-tall white fence around them. An archway overhead spelled out “Martyrs of the Race Course” in black letters.

About 10,000 people, mostly black residents, participated in the May 1 tribute, according to coverage back then in the Charleston Daily Courier and the New York Tribune. Starting at 9 a.m., about 3,000 black schoolchildren paraded around the race track holding roses and singing the Union song “John Brown’s Body,” and were followed by adults representing aid societies for freed black men and women. Black pastors delivered sermons and led attendees in prayer and in the singing of spirituals, and there were picnics. James Redpath, the white director of freedman’s education in the region, organized about 30 speeches by Union officers, missionaries and black ministers. Participants sang patriotic songs like “America” and “We’ll Rally around the Flag” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In the afternoon, three white and black Union regiments marched around the graves and staged a drill.

The New York Tribune described the tribute as “a procession of friends and mourners as South Carolina and the United States never saw before.” The gravesites looked like a “one mass of flowers” and “the breeze wafted the sweet perfumes from them” and “tears of joy” were shed.

This tribute, “gave birth to an American tradition,” Blight wrote in Race and Reunion: “The war was over, and Memorial Day had been founded by African Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration.”

In 1996, Blight stumbled upon a New York Herald Tribune article detailing the tribute in a Harvard University archive — but the origin story it told was not the Memorial Day history that many white people had wanted to tell, he argues.

An Alfred Waud illustration of the.Union soldiers cemetery known as "Martyrs of the Race course" in Charleston, S.C.

Morgan collection of Civil War drawings at the Library of Congress

The origin story that did stick involves an 1868 call from General John A. Logan, president of a Union Army veterans group, urging Americans to decorate the graves of the fallen with flowers on May 30 of that year. The ceremony that took place in Arlington National Cemetery that day has been considered the first official Memorial Day celebration. Memorial Day became a national holiday two decades later, in 1889, and it took a century before it was moved in 1968 to the last Monday of May, where it remains today. According to Blight, Hampton Park, named after Confederate General Wade Hampton, replaced the gravesite at the Martyrs of the Race Course, and the graves were reinterred in the 1880s at a national cemetery in Beaufort, S.C.

The fact that the freed slaves’ Memorial Day tribute is not as well remembered is emblematic of the struggle that would follow, as African Americans’ fight to be fully recognized for their contributions to American society continues to this day.

Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com.

[readingrecap]

🇺🇸 Reading Memorial Day 2024 Details

Residents are Invited to Honor and Remember (READING, MA – May 21, 2024) – The veterans of Reading and the Reading Veterans Services Officer request the honor and presence of the residents of Reading in assisting and helping us in honoring and observing Memorial Day 2024 through our annual parade, cemetery ceremonies, and decorating veteran gravesites. An additional informal flag raising by the…

[consumerguide]

Remembering Sacrifice: How Americans Honor Memorial Day

Memorial Day, a solemn occasion observed annually on the last Monday of May, serves as a poignant reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by countless men and women in service to their nation. As families gather and communities unite, the atmosphere is one of reverence, gratitude, and reflection. Let's delve into the significance of Memorial Day and explore how Americans commemorate this important day.

Honoring the Fallen Heroes:

At the heart of Memorial Day lies the profound gratitude for those who gave their lives in defense of freedom and democracy. From the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery to local memorials in towns across the country, Americans pay homage to the brave souls who made the ultimate sacrifice. Flowers, wreaths, and American flags adorn gravesites, serving as symbols of remembrance and respect.

Parades and Ceremonies:

Across the nation, communities come together to participate in parades and ceremonies that honor the military personnel who died in service. These events often feature marching bands, color guards, and veterans' organizations. It's a time for the community to show solidarity with military families and express appreciation for the sacrifices made by service members past and present.

Moment of Silence:

A moment of silence is observed at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, a tradition that dates back to the National Moment of Remembrance resolution passed by Congress in 2000. This collective moment of reflection allows Americans to pause and reflect on the significance of the day, offering a quiet tribute to those who have fallen in service to their country.

Family Gatherings and Traditions:

While Memorial Day is a time for solemn remembrance, it also provides an opportunity for families and friends to come together in fellowship. Many Americans gather for barbecues, picnics, and outdoor activities, enjoying the long weekend with loved ones. However, amid the festivities, the true meaning of the day is never forgotten, with families often taking time to share stories of relatives who served in the military.

Patriotic Displays:

In addition to honoring the fallen, Memorial Day is also a time to display patriotism and national pride. Homes and businesses proudly fly the American flag, while communities decorate public spaces with red, white, and blue bunting. These displays serve as a visual reminder of the values and ideals for which so many have given their lives.

Service and Volunteerism:

Many Americans choose to honor Memorial Day by engaging in acts of service and volunteerism. From participating in community clean-up projects to volunteering at veterans' hospitals, these acts of kindness pay tribute to the spirit of sacrifice and service embodied by those who have served in the military.

Conclusion:

Memorial Day is more than just a day off work or the unofficial start of summer. It's a time to pause and reflect on the profound debt of gratitude owed to the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Through solemn remembrance, patriotic displays, and acts of service, Americans come together to honor the fallen and ensure that their legacy of courage and sacrifice is never forgotten.

Conclusion:

As Americans gather to commemorate Memorial Day, whether at solemn ceremonies or joyful family gatherings, it's essential to ensure that the practical needs of attendees are met. Public celebration sites often require facilities like porta potties to accommodate the crowds. Companies like PortaPottyPro, known for their reliable service and top-quality facilities, play a crucial role in supporting these events. Through their contributions, they help ensure that Americans can come together in unity and remembrance, honoring the sacrifices of the fallen with dignity and respect.

[loneberry]

Flowers for Eternity

What is the alphabet of funeral flowers that appears everywhere in my work? 

Below the cut is “Flowers for Eternity”—my favorite chapter from Stephen Buchmann’s book The Reason for Flowers—on the relationship between flowers and death, and the use of flowers for funerary and religious rituals. 

*

Flowers as the enshrinement of wayward souls

Flowers as an olfactory mask for decomposing corpses

Flowers as memorialization

Flowers as emotional salve in the face of loss

Who knows why, when a life is snuffed out, a bouquet sprouts in the void. 

In the end, we all will become flowers

Ruderals in the cemetery of lost dreams

Flowers for Eternity They are love’s last gift—bring ye flowers, pale flowers! —Felicia Hermans It’s a cold February morning in Orange County, California. My family, and our relatives and friends, gather on a green lawn, in the Garden of Contentment, an older area within the sprawling Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California, the largest cemetery in the United States. A friend has given the eulogy for my father, Stanley, who has died at age fifty-seven. Our family walks to the open grave hand in hand. My father’s sister carries a bouquet of flowers. One by one, we come forward, adding colorful bouquets atop the metal coffin. Floral wreaths rest next to the gravesite on tall stands. Earlier that morning, several hundred friends, family, and relatives paid their final respects during a funeral service in the flower-filled First Congregational Church of Buena Park. Now, our family and a few others remain graveside among the floral tributes before the casket is lowered. Such earthen burials in cemeteries are repeated about six thousand times each day in the United States and many more times around the world. Much of the florist industry is based on these services and other floral tributes. With their beauty, flowers comfort us; they make us smile and ease our grief. They help us to heal and recover from losses and emotional wounds. This has always been true. Our ancestors used cut flowers as grave offerings since the time spiritual beliefs first stirred in humans. Archaeological excavations of ancient burial sites in Iraq and Israel, along with tombs of Egyptian pharaohs, such as Tutankhamen, provide us with glimpses into the burial customs of these ancient mourners, and flowers for eternity. Buried with Flowers Deep within the Zagros Mountains of northern Iraq is the famed Shanidar Cave. Early humans, Neanderthals, lived here seventy thousand years ago and buried their dead. Excavations in the 1950s by a Columbia University archaeological team unearthed ten Neanderthal skeletons buried along with an assortment of stone tools. At least one individual may have been laid upon a bed of stems of joint pine (Ephedra, shrubs that make no flowers) and also adorned with bouquets of flowers. Pollen from twenty-eight flowering species was identified from the gravesite soils. Pollen-grain concentrations were higher within the grave than in the surrounding areas of Shanidar Cave. This sensational discovery was widely reported in the media and sparked debate. Did the family group of Neanderthals have ritualized burials? Was this the first evidence of floral grave offerings? Or, as has recently been suggested, was it merely interred pollen brought into the cave by generations of gerbil-like rodents hoarding grasses and wildflowers? For now, the story is unclear. Not as old, but far more scientifically convincing, is a twelve-millennia-old gravesite inside Raqefet Cave on Israel’s Mt. Carmel studied by archaeologists at the University of Haifa. Here, four graves from the Natufian culture (radiocarbon-dated to be 13,700 to 11,700 years old) were lined with flowers at the time of burial. In one grave, an adult male and an adolescent were buried together atop a thick bier of floral offerings. Judaean sage (Salvia judaica), along with other unidentified mints (Lamiaceae) and members of the snapdragon family (Plantaginaceae), were used. Interestingly, Judaean sage has been a ritual plant since ancient times. It has commonly followed Mediterranean peoples from cradle to grave, like rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and true myrtle (Myrtus communis). Myrtle remains entwined and is used with one Jewish holiday, Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles, still celebrated each autumn. Archaeologist Dr. Dani Nadel spoke with me about the Raqefet Cave ancient graveyard, explaining that the inner grave surfaces were plastered with mud, capturing imprints of the delicate stems and finest floral impressions at the time of inhumation. Based upon the types of local wildflowers used, these may have been spring burials. Perhaps flowers were offered as grave goods not only for their beauty but also for their intense scents, which would have masked the odors of decomposition. Sages, along with mint stems and leaves, are especially fragrant, used to this day in cooking and burned as incense. A visitor to the Mt. Carmel hillside today walks among Judaean sage, a plant as common there now as it likely was millennia ago. The Natufians were possibly the first people to transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to permanent settlements with agriculture, animal husbandry, and true graveyards. Honoring the Dead or Appeasing the Gods? From the earliest times, humans have displayed two interrelated behaviors using flowers. We have buried them with our dead, but we have also adorned statues of deities with garlands or left blooms on sacred altars to propitiate the deities. Why is it that something as ephemeral and delicate as a flower took on this new role in the theologies of so many divergent cultures? How could a flower provide comfort for grieving mourners if we evolved from fruit-eating ancestors? Why not use something else? Shouldn’t we be decorating sarcophagi and coffins with fruit, luscious red ripe grapes, apples, or figs? Perhaps it happened because the blooming of flowers around the world proceeds in a predictable, seasonal pattern. Flowers of the dry season are replaced by flowers of the rainy season in the tropics. In cooler-milder zones, three or four seasons offer a diverse but revolving carousel of buds that open and wilt at appointed times. Catastrophic destruction by unexpected droughts, wildfires, or floods interrupts annual climate cycles but not forever. Given time, the flowers return. Early humans certainly noticed that when their kin were buried in shallow graves, these sites were later colonized by blooming, opportunistic, short-lived wildflowers ecologists call ruderals. This mode of natural renewal had been noted by most generations of poets, regardless of era. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes offers the then-widespread belief that good flowers spring from the grave of a good person. He hopes that violets will spring from his sister Ophelia’s grave, although her death was a suicide. Thus, Mt. Carmel hides more than one ruined necropolis in plain sight. On warm days in January a trained botanist can show cyclamens, red anemones, winter narcissi, and mandrakes poking out between the tips of the half-buried ossuaries. Bouquets, Mummy Garlands, and Floral Collars On a far grander scale, death rites and religious worship were intertwined in the Egypt of the pharaohs. Flower arrangements were used in festivals and for special occasions. Most popular were the spike-topped papyrus reeds, and flowers of sacred blue and white water lilies. Bouquets were presented to deceased relatives at the time of burial and on various festive occasions and anniversaries at the necropolis and mortuary temples. Beautifully designed fresh-flower arrangements were also worn as broad neck collars (wide necklaces) by participants at Egyptian funerary rites and their associated feasts. Bouquets were brought to burials, and papyrus stems played an integral part since these abundant, aquatic reeds symbolized the resurrection of the deceased. Bouquets and persea (Mimusops laurifolia) branches were found inside King Tutankhamun’s multiroomed royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings (ancient Thebes) when it was first opened by Howard Carter in 1922. Ancient flower collars and dried-but-once-fresh flowers are found on mummies and draped on statues placed within tombs. When nineteen-year-old pharaoh Tutankhamun was buried in 1323 BC, many floral garlands were placed as offerings on his three nested, gilded coffins. A small wreath of olive leaves, blue water-lily petals, and blue cornflowers (Centaurea) surrounded the symbol of office, the vulture-and-serpent motif above the king’s brow. The floral decorations on Tut’s innermost coffins were especially elaborate. Here, layers of wrapped linen were crisscrossed by four bands of long floral garlands. The plants used in the garlands have been identified as olive leaves, cornflower, willow, lotus (Nelumbo), and celery leaves. A one-foot-wide floral collar encircled the king’s sculpted, solid gold funerary mask. When fresh, before the sarcophagus was sealed, this brilliant floral collar resting on the golden innermost coffin lid must have been a lovely sight. Unlike the previous garlands, this collar contained blue glass beads, lotus petals, more cornflowers, the scarlet berries of deadly nightshade, along with yellow mandrake fruits and the yellow-flowering heads of yellow hawkweeds (Picris). The royal mummy of Rameses II (1290 - 1224 BC) had thirteen rows of floral garlands, along with single blue flowers of water lilies under the bands sealing the mummy wrappings. This king, along with others, was found in a “mummy cache,” likely placed there a century later (c. 1087 BC) by Egyptians to avoid the rampant tomb robbing of that time. The garlands of persea leaves and blue and white lotus on the mummy wrappings of Rameses II might have been placed there reverentially during his hasty reburial. Northwest from Egypt, on islands of the Aegean, the Minoan peoples traded with the Egyptians, who coveted Minoan saffron (Crocus sativus) as a spice and a dye. These people also enjoyed an elaborate vision of death, flowers, and deities, but it seems more cheerful. Amateur botanist and historian Hellmut Baumann has addressed the relicts of this civilization, and its Greek invaders. The Cretans, for example, decorated their sarcophagi with motifs depicting the flowering stems of native dragon arums (Dracunculus vulgaris) and related members of the philodendron family (Araceae). They also painted the glorious white and wonderfully scented sea daffodils (Pancratium maritimum) on these baked clays as it was a favorite of their goddesses. These deities were believed to favor wild lilies, including the white-flowered species we today call the Madonna (Lilium candidum), and the Cretans protected the mauve flowers of the saffron crocus. One sculpted goddess wore a crown made of the fat round fruits of opium poppies. The Minoan Empire came to a violent end around 1570 BC when volcanic eruptions and tsunamis devastated their islands and left the survivors vulnerable to waves of invasion from the Greek mainland. The invaders brought in a new, male-dominated pantheon. The mighty Minoan goddess became Crete’s nymph under the name of Britomartis or Dictynna. She was a dutiful daughter of Zeus and a virgin. Classical Greek religion believed in gods who loved flowers. As they were immortals, their worshippers decorated their temples with “immortal” arrangements of everlasting daisies (Helichrysum), as they hold their shiny yellow color and sun shapes when dried. Sacrificial oxen were adorned with flowers of wild carnations (Dianthus) and rose campions (Lychnis). Greek priests and poets insisted that their gods had sacred plants, and some of these bore beautiful flowers. The first Olympian gods invented floral wreaths at the wedding of Zeus and Hera, weaving together wildflowers such as primroses, candytuft (Iberis), leopard’s-bane (Doronicum), and mouse-ears (Cerastium). Pindar (522 - 443 BC) wrote odes associating Apollo and Aphrodite with sweetly scented violets of the field. Flowers followed a Greek woman through the most important rituals of her life. Virgins wore garlands of wild, white-flowered species at their weddings, typically incorporating crocuses, white snowflakes (Leucojum), white storax (Styrax), and snowdrops (Galanthus), according to season. The modern fashion of the pure white bride’s bouquet derives from these sweetly scented garlands and wreaths. But the wedding bouquet of classical Greece was more likely to contain garlic and other pungent herbs to drive off jealous wandering spirits! The citizens of ancient Rome picked up many Greek wedding customs but seemed to prefer colorful, scented flowers including violets, wallflowers (Cheiranthus), and stocks (Matthiola). The Greeks also favored roses (sacred to Aphrodite), but the Romans so expanded the wedding fashions that they may have used the flowers of four or five different Rosa species. Wealthier Romans also tried to turn their wedding nuptial chambers into a fertile garden of flowers and greenery. As a matron, the mature Greek woman celebrated the summer rites (Thesmophoria) sacred to the grain goddess, Demeter. This included sleeping on makeshift beds sprinkled with the blue-purple flowers of the chaste tree (Vitex), to keep them faithful to their husbands and to increase their fertility. These flowers were sacred to Demeter, Hera (goddess of marriage), Aphrodite (goddess of love and fertility), and even Asclepius (god of medicine). At a woman’s death, a purple iris might be planted on her grave, and funerals in ancient Greece were elaborate rituals lasting several days. At the moment of death, the soul (Psyche, portrayed as a winged deity or butterfly) was believed to leave the body through the mouth as a puff of wind. By law, the decedent’s body was prepared at home (the prothesis), usually by elderly female relatives. The corpse was washed, anointed with fragrant oils, and dressed. Then it was placed on a bed of wooden planks and adorned with a crown of tree branches and flowers. Romans adored their floral crowns but also decorated the funerary couch with many fresh flowers. Once burial was complete, both Greeks and Romans scattered flowers on the grave (violets were popular tributes), and both cultures believed that planting herbs and sweet flowers around the burial site purified the earth. Urns containing the remains of the deceased could also be cleansed using offerings of cut flowers. A Passion for Lotuses

Even as the peoples of Crete, Greece, and Italy abandoned their old pantheons less than two thousand years ago, flowers continue to play a living role in the cultures and countries embracing the various branches of Hinduism. Indians still celebrate rites wearing garlands of flowers, and they give them away as gifts. Their use of flowers is associated with sexuality, one of the aphorisms of love, for example, in the Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana. The ancient Indian text is not just about erotic love and sexual positions; it also contains information on the sixty-four arts, including flowers, especially fashioning flower carriages and artificial flowers, the adorning of idols with rice and flowers, decorating couches or beds with flowers, stringing necklaces, making garlands or wreaths, and the simple pleasures of gardening. In their worship and portrayals of deities, Hindus are infatuated with flowers. The name of the Hindu worship ritual puja is translated as the “flower act.” Among Hindus, the Indian lotus flower (Nelumbo nucifera) is their foremost symbol of beauty, fertility, and prosperity. According to Hinduism, within everyone resides the spirit of the sacred lotus flower. The lotus symbolizes purity, divinity, and eternity, widely used in ceremonies, where it denotes life, especially feminine beauty and renewed youth. In the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu text, humans are admonished to be like the lotus, holding high above the water, like the flower itself. In hatha yoga, the familiar lotus sitting position is used by practitioners as a way of striving for a higher level of consciousness. In Hinduism, the lotus also represents beauty and nonattachment. The aquatic plant produces a large, beautiful, pinkish blossom, but it is rooted fast in the mud of a shallow pond or lake. Its stiff leaves rise above the water’s surface, neither wetted nor muddy. Hindus view this as an admonition for how we should live our lives, without attachment to our surroundings. Several Hindu deities are likened to the lotus blossom. Krishna is described as the Lotus-Eyed One in reference to his supposed divine beauty. Deities including Brahma, Lakshmi, Vishnu, and Saraswati are also associated with the lotus blossom. The “wooing” of Hindu gods is normally done with adorning clothing, jewels, dances and music, perfumes, betel nuts, coconuts, and other foods, but especially with vermilion dusts and many flowers. During Holi, the festival of colors during the spring, worshippers paint their faces with brilliant vermilion powders. Flowers are everywhere on display for Holi and Diwali (the festival of lights, celebrated in India and Nepal). Colorful floral displays called rangoli are created for indoor or outdoor use by the celebrants. The Diwali holiday marks the victory of good over evil (Lord Rama’s victory over the demon-king Ravana). Villagers commonly paint the faces of sacred cattle with vermilion and drape their necks with long floral garlands, using marigolds, and red-purple makhmali (flowering heads of long-lasting amaranths) in Nepal. In an interesting form of what may be considered cultural diffusion with flowers, Hindus prefer the fat, hybrid heads of marigolds (Tagetes), apparently unaware of their earlier association with bloody human sacrifices performed by Aztec high priests. In India, yatra are the pilgrimage festivals celebrated at Hindu temples. Idols are carried aloft in a special procession on a palki (sedan chair). These ceremonial platforms are highly decorated, festooned in colorful live flowers including marigolds and makhmali. Cremation is mandatory for most Hindus. In India, after the elaborate cremation ceremonies performed by male family members, the deceased’s ashes are gathered and usually scattered on the waters of the sacred Ganges River (especially at Allahabad), or at sea. Mourners often place floating bowls containing the ash remains and flowers in the river. They also scatter flower petals and whole flowers on the waters as part of this ritual. Buddhism originated in northern India. Although often considered a spiritual path or way of life, rather than a formal religion, its many followers use and admire flowers in their rituals and daily lives. The lotus is often stated to represent the most exalted state of man and is the symbol of knowledge and the Buddha. Legend has it that wherever the Buddha paced to and fro in meditation, lotus flowers sprang up in his footsteps. In most Buddhist art, the lotus flower symbolizes the Buddha and transcendence to a higher state. The lotus is also thought to represent in Buddhism four human virtues: scent, purity, softness, and beauty. In contrast, some Hindus and Hindu offshoots, such as Jainism, eschew flowers. Orthodox Brahmans and Jains oppose using flowers because, although no blood is spilled, a “sacrifice” is made by cutting the stem of the plant, which kills the flower. Allowances are often made and flowers are used by these groups in worship. However, the very best flowers, as offerings, are those that fall naturally to the ground so their lives were not taken by picking. India’s Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948), made famous by inspiring nonviolent acts of civil disobedience among his followers, avoided the use of floral garlands. Gandhi preferred garlands made of cotton or necklaces of plain sandalwood beads. Flowers of Bali The Hindu use of flowers is most vibrant and lavish on the island of Bali, in the Indonesian archipelago. The ancient Sanskrit word bali means “tribute” or “gift,” especially surrounding temple ceremonies and the use of flowers. Wandering the streets of Ubud, you see minipalettes, three-by-three-inch woven-palm-leaf trays filled with colorful flowers of frangipani (Plumeria; a relative of our milkweeds), ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata; related to custard apples), and Impatiens (the same tropical weeds we grow as summer shade-garden annuals). These offerings are called banten in Balinese. Incense tops the vibrant offerings, adding its wisps of fragrant smoke to appease nature spirits, and the numerous gods and demons of Balinese Hinduism. These miniature offerings in Bali take on many different forms. They always contain flowers, but may include cookies, cigarettes, rice, or money. The offerings are not always contained in the plaited-palm trays. Often, they are merely small piles of colorful flower petals. The items used in the offerings seem to be less important than the act of creating these tributes. Balinese women spend a large part of each day creating and placing these ritualistic offerings along roadways and paths, often perched where you least expect them. The offerings are everywhere, sitting atop walls, planters, and stair steps. Individual flowers and garlands adorn stone statues, such as those of Ganesha. This beloved elephant-headed god of wisdom and art is often depicted holding—you guessed it��a lotus blossom. In Bali, the sweet floral scent of frangipani and ylang-ylang perfumes the air of courtyards, homes, and temples. Early every morning, before most tourists have risen from their guesthouse beds, the Balinese are out on the streets. They sweep away the previous day’s now-wilted floral offerings and wash down the streets and gutters. The offerings are daily devotional gifts, repeated acts of faith, cornerstones of their belief system. The slightly darker side of the practices is that the offerings are meant to appease and disperse demon spirits who might be hanging around one’s home or a nearby street corner. These are far more than simple street decorations for foreign tourists, which I’m sure most foreign visitors believe they are. Many of the country’s religious ceremonies are conducted within Hindu temples. Odalans are temple ceremonies lasting three or more days. During these observances, the temple walls are covered in colorful golden thread fabrics. Offerings of bright fruits, flowers, and rice cakes are carried balanced on women’s heads, then placed around the temples. The Hindu gods are believed to take the essence (sari) from these food offerings, which are later brought home and consumed by the worshipping families. On Bali, flowers play as important a role in death as they do in life. The dead, inside their coffins, are placed inside large, elaborate, gilded sarcophagi made of papier-mache. These often take the form of bulls or the demonic Bhoma guardian with a fearsome, openmouthed head, staring down at the onlookers. They are impressive works of art accompanied by flowers. The black and gold sarcophagi are highly decorated with real and paper flowers. Floral garlands (chrysanthemums) adorn the necks of the impressive mythical beasts. During the funeral ceremonies, everyone wears bright costumes, and village women prepare food offerings to be eaten by the mourners during the festivities. The distinctive ringing tones of gamelan music are an integral part of Balinese culture and their funeral traditions. Finally, the ornate funeral pyres with their garlanded animals are set ablaze with added gasoline for good measure. After the flames have done their work, the family separates the ashes and bones of the deceased from the remaining residue. The cremains are tenderly placed inside folded white and yellow cloths along with flowers and buried twelve days later, after a final purification rite, again augmented with flowers. The “Conversion” of Flowers When trade brought the lotus to Egypt around 500 BC, it displaced the blue and white water lilies used in worship. Favorite flowers find new religions, and it’s a never-ending circle, with Mexican marigolds and frangipani used extensively by Hindus in India and on Bali. Therefore, it should not surprise us that the goddesses of the Mediterranean basin gave their grandest white flower to Christianity, recognizable to most as the white Madonna lily (Lilium candidum). In the United States, this is the omnipresent potted Easter lily. In early Christian liturgy, Mary’s tomb was filled with these white lilies after her assumption into heaven. The Madonna lily also figures in Renaissance paintings of the Annunciation. Its white color represents her presumed virginity and immaculate conception. Today, flowers taking on similar Christian symbolism include the lily of the valley, the snowflake, and the snowdrop, once worn by Greek brides. White, the color of purity and innocence, and red, Christ’s sacrificial blood, represented by roses, have been emblems of the Virgin Mary. They were also sacred to Venus and Aphrodite in earlier times. Ironically, the earliest practices of the Christian church largely avoided ceremonial uses of flowers as they were associated with former but often appropriated pagan rites. These restrictions were modified over time, so now Christian services and funerals seem incomplete without flowers. For Catholic services, floral arrangements are usually placed on shelves, the gradines, behind the main altar. Although white flowers are most often used, even red flowers are allowed, along with ferns and other greenery. Often an attempt is made to match flower colors with those of the clerical vestments. In the Catholic Church flowers are used in moderation during Advent but are often “given up” for Lent. Historically, rosary beads used in Catholic prayers were formed from dried and compressed rose petals instead of the wooden, glass, or plastic ones commonly used. In Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance certain flowers were associated with Christian saints and used during the saint’s day and other celebrations. Saint Valentine was associated with crocuses or violets. The tradition of giving violets on Saint Valentine’s Day was common in the United States, persisting in New York City at least until the early 1960s. Christianity, though, is both messianic and missionary. As the Spaniards introduced it to our American Southwest and Mesoamerica, the use of flowers in the old religions mixed with the new. Anthropologists studying these hybridized beliefs note that the worshippers often speak of a Flower World, a spiritual place where humans might contact spirits or ancestors through rituals or by ingesting hallucinogenic plants. The belief in a spirit Flower World is common throughout Mexico, other Latin American countries, and the pre-Hispanic southwestern United States. These flower beliefs seem to have been widespread among ancient Amerindians speaking a common language (e.g., Uto-Aztecan). In an earlier chapter we were introduced to Aztec rituals utilizing flowers. Flowers for the Aztecs, especially true marigolds, signified a spiritual-afterlife paradise world, but also universal creation and the blood of human sacrifices. Knowledge of the Flower World was traditionally passed to each succeeding generation in song. We also find exquisite depictions of flowers on Mayan textiles, the pottery of the modern Hopi, and in the ancestral groups of the Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi (ancient Pueblo) cultures of Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora, Mexico. In their minds, the Huichol people of west-central Mexico “visited” the colorful Flower World in their peyote-cactus pilgrimage ceremonies. In the northern Mexican villages of the Mayo and Yoeme (Yaqui) tribes, leading up to and during Easter week children throw flowers at dancers dressed as evil spirits, the fariseos and chapayekas, who symbolically attack the Catholic Church. Flowers, real and paper ones, and colorful confetti are used as adornments. Altars, churches, village buildings, and homes are decorated profusely with colorful paper flowers. The Yoeme concept of flowers (sewam) has been treasured in legends and songs for many generations. Today, flowers are associated with the Virgin Mary, and flowers are believed to have miraculously sprung from the spilled blood of Christ at his crucifixion. Prior to their religious conversion, flowers were spiritual blessings, important in the native religious beliefs of the Mayo and Yoeme. I have attended the elaborate Yoeme deer dances of the Pascua Yaqui tribe in my home city of Tucson, Arizona. Flowers are important symbols in these rituals. Masked pascola deer dancers, dressed in white, wear wide belts with jangling deer hooves or brass bullet cartridges. Their ankles are festooned with tenevoim, pebble-filled cocoons of giant silk moths (Rothschildia cincta). Their stomping feet sound like alarmed rattlesnakes sounding their warnings. Atop their heads the dancers wear a large real or paper flower, usually red. Yoeme and Mayo funerals are mixtures of Catholicism and traditional cultural beliefs. For the Yoeme, their world concept is a mix of five worlds; the desert world, a mystical world, the dream world, the night world, and the flower world. Flowers are also viewed as the souls of departed family or tribal members. Sometimes older Yoeme men may greet one another with the phrase Haisa sewa? (How is the flower?). These ancient Aztec-speaking groups not only traded goods north and south but also their religious ideas and beliefs. Thus, we have clues that the Flower World concepts traveled north out of Mexico, to Chaco Canyon in the eleventh century, and to the Hopi mesas in Arizona by the 1400s. In the Mimbres Classic period (1000 - 1130), mortuary rituals, using symbolic flowers, eased the passage of individuals into the spirit world. Caches from archaeological excavations reveal the presence of painted wooden and leather flowers, likely worn by performers, just as modern katsina (kachina) dancers wear flowers, later left as grave goods. Flower worlds are depicted in fifteenth-century murals inside sacred kivas. Hopi, and other Southwestern, pottery show symbolic representations of flowers. According to Hopi traditions, butterflies are “flying flowers” and in various forms are associated with the underworld, with spring and renewal, and with the direction south. There is strong evidence that modern pueblo and ancient Mesoamerican iconographies are intertwined, historically related via trade routes and intercultural exchanges. Flowers, either real or depicted in art, formed a large part of the myths, legends, and daily life of these Southwestern indigenous cultures. Christian and native flower cultures merge vibrantly but positively during Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations. In the final days of October, before the American holiday of All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween), Mexicans prepare for their own traditional holiday for the dead, but in a different way from the commercialized trick-or-treating holiday Americans know. As the days grow shorter and the nights grow colder, villages and towns all over Mexico come alive with renewed energy and anticipation for the coming festivities. On November 1 and 2, Mexicanos come together to celebrate Día de los Muertos, their traditional Day of the Dead celebration. Across the country, families honor the memories of deceased loved ones around family burial plots gaily decorated with real and paper flowers, lively paper streamers, glowing candles, and offerings of the decedents’ favorite foods. To appreciate the modern Day of the Dead celebrations, we recall Aztec beliefs. Aztecs didn’t fear death, or Mictlantecuhtli, their god of death, as much as they dreaded the uncertainty of their brutally short lives. Mictlantecuhtli would not punish the dead. A dead person’s role in heaven was determined not by how he lived, but by how he died. Exalted warriors were believed to fly around the sun in the form of butterflies and hummingbirds, as were women who died in childbirth. Dead infants fed at the milk-giving tree. Everyone else just faded away to Mictlan, like a quiescent dream on their road toward final death and nonexistence. The ferocious Aztec sun god, Huitzilopochtli, demanded the most precious fluid of all, red human blood, spilled in sacrifice, amid garlands of golden marigolds, to slake his never-ending thirst. The beating hearts and blood of human victims were exchanged for abundant crops. Death paid for life in the Aztec world. An Aztec “war of flowers” ensued, tournaments in which neighboring tribes were forced to compete to the death, adding their bodies to the ever-growing demand for sacrificial victims. Flowers have always played a crucial and significant role in the Mexican Day of the Dead. On All Hallows’ Eve, the spirits of dead children return home, but must leave by midday on November 1. Bells ring out all afternoon on this day from churches, announcing the arrival of adults, the “faithful dead,” returning to their scattered villages. Candles burn on flower-filled home shrines and altars chock-full of marigolds, other flowers, candy skulls, and family photographs. The sweet fragrance of burning copal incense (from ancient Mayan and Aztec traditions) fills the air inside the homes. Often, trails of scattered marigold petals lead to doorways, meant to show wandering spirits of the dead their way back home. You can also witness many of these same customs on the streets and cemeteries of mountain villages in northern Guatemala. Marigolds are the foremost flower among these ceremonies and are native plants of Mexico. However, in Oaxacan and Cuernavacan markets as elsewhere, celebrants also buy the cloudlike floral sprays of baby’s breath (Gypsophila paniculata), a domesticated plant that grows wild in its native Russian steppes. Mexicans also use the brilliant flamelike heads of cockscomb (Celosia) to decorate their shrines, church altars, and graves. Once a religion includes flowers in its worship or mourning, the original distribution and mythology of an attractive bloom is no barrier to its acceptance among new rites in other distant locations. The Flowering of Roadside Memorials Whenever I drive the roadways of Sonora, Mexico, or those in southern Arizona, spots of color vie for my attention. Are they flowers in the desert, even during the winter when all the grasses are withered and brown, when nothing should be blooming? No, these little gardens of grief are roadside memorials, shrines honoring the dead, called descansos in Mexico. They mark places where someone died in an automobile crash. The memorials usually have a white cross, and often a saint’s figure and a votive candle, but invariably flowers, plastic ones, or fresh flowers refreshed on anniversary dates and holidays. Occasionally, I stop out of curiosity to read their names, or to admire the decorative floral arrangements. I’m reminded of the sidewalk and roadside floral tribute gardens that stretched for miles following the September 6, 1997, funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Whether permanent roadside shrines or a single flower left in an open jar, they are omnipresent reminders of the immensely powerful social customs and values of flowers as memorial tributes. Victorian Funeral Customs In contrast, the use of flowers in contemporary American funerals seems a bit restrained. To understand our relation to flowers and death we need to cross the Atlantic and study our Victorian forebears as they established the funerary customs we still use or prefer to avoid. In particular, before twentieth-century embalming practices took hold in the funeral industry, stately, large wreaths and immense bouquets of flowers composed of strongly fragrant white lilies and hybrids of the so-called Oriental lilies (derived from Lilium speciosum) masked the odors of bodily decomposition. Along with burning candles, flowers served the role of air-fresheners. English Victorian-era funeral processions were grandiose and expensive social events. A prominent English family planned and arranged for a stylish processional costing twenty to fifty British pounds sterling, equivalent to the purchasing power today of about $5,000 (I chose the year 1850). For most of the Victorian era, a pound sterling might buy $100 worth of goods today. The processions were led by foot attendants, pallbearers with batons, a featherman holding tall ostrich plumes, pages, and mutes who dressed in gowns and carried wands. Stylish carriages transported family members, and relatives followed behind. The glass-sided hearse had elaborate black with silver and gold decorations. It was covered with an ornate canopy of black ostrich feathers and pulled by six black Belgian horses, each with its own black-plumed headdress. The ornate, draped coffin inside was clearly visible, and the interior of the hearse was jammed with a wide variety of flowers. Several hundred mourners might attend such a lavish funeral. After the services, most of the flowers were returned home and became part of elaborate home-parlor memorial shrines. Queen Victoria sent primroses to the funeral of her favorite prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli. Large floral arrangements surrounded photographs of the deceased, and the room was often decorated with one or more stuffed white doves, holding a red rose in their beaks. The British, during Queen Victoria’s sixty-three-year reign (1837 - 1901), were the last society to truly celebrate death with great pomp and circumstance, as had the ancient Egyptians. In the Victorian age, people welcomed the dead, continued to bring their dead, in open coffins, into their parlors and homes (the origin of the modern funeral parlor). In death flowers led the way. Victorians had their own flower superstitions, gleaned from older traditions in British folklore. For example, if the deceased had lived a good and proper life, then colorful flowers would supposedly grow and bloom on his or her grave. If people had lived otherwise and were deemed evil, then weeds would assuredly grow unattended and bloom profusely above them. If anyone noticed a roselike scent in the home, and no roses were nearby, then someone was about to die. A single snowdrop (Galanthus) plant found growing in a garden also foretold a death in the family. It was considered extremely bad luck to mix red and white flowers in a vase, especially inside a hospital, as a death would surely follow. Proper mourning etiquette was essential. Widows grieved for two years and wore solid black clothing with no trim, and bonnets with long, black face veils. No flowers were used. Their veils were shortened during the second year, and white or purple flowers were then permissible as decorative adornments to their plain black bonnets. The Modern American Way of Death: Flowers and Dying Today, Victorian practices have evolved further into an immense, nearly $21 billion US funeral industry, whose customs vary widely depending upon ethnic background, religious beliefs, region of the country, and socioeconomic stratum. Some people will not grow or bring scented narcissus (Narcissus tazetta) into their homes because their fragrance reminds them of embalming fluid. However, a little-known change in the treatment of the dead—the use of formaldehyde and other embalming fluids to prolong “viewing life” (the time available for an open-casket ceremony during a funeral or memorial service)—has occurred. Unknown to most, unless you are a mortician or are employed in a modern funeral home, is another surprising use for floral fragrances: dead bodies are being perfumed like real flowers. The new practice is not altogether unlike those of nineteenth-century America, when home parlors were jammed with large and fragrant floral wreaths, of white lilies and other flowers, to mask death’s telltale scent. Today, the unmistakable nose- and eye-stinging scent of formalin (aqueous formaldehyde) has changed. New, milder-scented embalming fluids are used, and even the Civil War - era formalin has been modified to assuage modern sensibilities. Now, embalmers typically add strong floral-based scents to their embalming fluids. The sweet fragrance of white lilies has been chemically synthesized and is sold to funeral parlors as an additive for their embalming solutions. Flowers have come to our rescue. To paraphrase the famous marketing phrase of a modern chemical-manufacturing giant, perhaps now we also have “better dying through chemistry.” It’s my impression that flowers now used at funerals are less fragrant than previously. Those pale gladioli, now in vogue, have no scent at all. Is it a coincidence that the beautiful, large, white, durable, and waxy white blooms of the nearly odorless calla lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) from southern Africa seem perfect for placing in the hands of a corpse during an open-casket memorial? I don’t think so, but it’s perhaps ironic that these blooms belong to the same family of arum lilies the Minoans used to decorate their sarcophagi. While fresh flowers seem such ever-important elements of modern US funerals, their use dwindles as their costs rise. In the United States today, floral arrangements might comprise roughly 10 to 20 percent of the total cost of a modern funeral averaging $8,000. We want and expect to see flowers during our times of grief. Flowers lift our spirits. Even with the recent “in lieu of flowers” practice where friends and family are asked to make cash donations in the memory of the deceased to a favorite charity, flowers and flower-giving have not gone out of fashion. A significant portion of the $34.3 billion (in 2012) florist-industry revenues are spent on cut flowers, potted plants, and wreaths supplied for funerals, memorial services, and placement on graves. The more than twenty-two thousand funeral homes in the United States stage more than 2 million funerals annually, about six thousand each day. Returning to that February day of my father’s funeral, I have vivid memories of honey bees alighting to drink nectar from the sprays of white flowers draping his silver-blue casket. It was a chilly Southern California day with a few cumulus clouds. The sixty-degree morning temperature was barely warm enough to get bees out of their hives, up and flying, in their continual quest for flowers. My eyes watched as those softly buzzing bees visited every blossom, drinking their sweet nectar. At the time, I was a twenty-two-year-old graduate-school student. Throughout my career as an entomologist, I’ve studied bees (melittology), along with their biology, and floral interactions, the science of pollination ecology. I don’t believe the bees were any kind of spiritual omen, but seeing them visiting my father’s graveside flowers reminded me of happier boyhood times spent together. The flowers and their bee visitors helped ease my grief on that somber California morning four decades ago. Now, we leave the rituals of death and dying behind and move to the showiest of them all, flowers (dahlias, roses, lilies, sunflowers, and more) bred for their spectacularly vivid colors and sex appeal. Gardeners enter flower shows hopeful that their prize blooms will win a coveted Best of Show ribbon, along with accolades from their gardening peers. We enter the high-stakes world of technology-dependent, commercial plant breeding—the creation of unnatural blue or brown roses, and black petunias, in the laboratory and field. Gardeners are cautioned that modern flower breeding, especially its newest hybrid creations, may reduce pollinator-attracting floral scents, along with pollen and sweet nectar—essential foods for bees and other pollinating animals. Pollinator gardens may appear bountiful, yet can in reality be unrewarding nutritional deserts. The pomp and circumstance of London’s one and only Chelsea Flower Show is revealed with its phantasmagorical artificial environments, new floral introductions, dream merchants, and fanciful exhibits. Step into the verdant exhibit booths. On with the show.

[billyagogo]

Coronavirus has claimed more than 90,000 lives in Mexico, muting the country's iconic Day of the Dead

New Post has been published on https://newsprofixpro.com/moxie/2020/10/31/coronavirus-has-claimed-more-than-90000-lives-in-mexico-muting-the-countrys-iconic-day-of-the-dead/

Coronavirus has claimed more than 90,000 lives in Mexico, muting the country's iconic Day of the Dead

He arrived, as he does every year in this season, to adorn the grave of his mother with what were her favorite flowers. He carried a bouquet of red roses and a plastic bag filled with orange petals from the cempasúchil, a marigold profoundly linked in Mexican culture to mourning and remembrance.

The gates of the San Nicolás Tolentino cemetery were closed.

“This virus is truly a tragedy,” said a disheartened Javier Suárez, 68, who had traveled an hour and a half from his home outside the capital only to be denied access to the burial ground. “It kills thousands of people. And it leaves those of us left alive filled with fear. … But now this COVID is destroying our traditions.”

The ongoing pandemic has felled more than 90,000 Mexicans, ranking the country fourth worldwide in the number of coronavirus-related deaths.

It has also achieved another doleful feat: muting one of the country’s signature holidays — Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, when Mexicans honor deceased loved ones in often-boisterous fashion, converging on cemeteries with flowers, candles, food and beverages, and leaving ornate altars in memory of the departed.

Javier Suarez came to leave flowers at a Mexico City cemetery but found it closed.

( Cecilia Sánchez / For The Times)

This year, the vibrant amalgam of Christian and pre-Hispanic rites — coinciding with the Roman Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on Sunday and Monday — will be a lonesome affair, more private reflection than collective tribute.

Seeking to hinder the spread of the virus, authorities have moved to curb public gatherings. Officials in the capital and elsewhere have banned cemetery visits, dealing a civic and emotional blow to millions of Mexicans. People have been asked to remember their loved ones at home. Some residents managed to get to cemeteries and pay respects before closures began in the last week.

Having heard of the shutdown, Suárez and others decided to venture to gravesites in the days before the official Day of the Dead holiday begins. But many cemeteries were already shut. People were forced to stand outside locked gates, unable to tidy up the graves and festoon them with flowers.

“One comes here with the hope of being able to greet our dear loved ones,” said a disillusioned Suárez. “And now they won’t let us pass.”

He went home, forlorn, with his flowers.

Many in Mexico have noted the harsh paradox: The rites of mourning and remembrance have been quashed in a year when people need them most.

A musician carries his instrument through the Valle de Chalco municipal cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, where he is hired to play songs by families who are decorating graves ahead of Day of the Dead.

(Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

In many cases, health and safety restrictions in hospitals meant that kin were not even allowed to share final moments with gravely ill relatives and friends. Traditional wakes and funerals were also barred. Most victims were cremated as a safety precaution, instead of being interred in traditional burials.

María López Velázquez, 61, a house cleaner in Mexico City, lost her husband in September to what doctors suspect was COVID-19. She is still pained that he was cremated and not buried. She plans to set up a Día de los Muertos altar at home in his honor.

“This ugly disease has come to torment us in so many ways,” she said.

Relatives bury Isaac Nolasco at Valle de Chalco cemetery.

(Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

Apart from the emotional toll, the dampened Day of the Dead signals additional economic distress for the millions of Mexicans who rely on street commerce.

The pandemic has already forced thousands out of business, and sales of Day of the Dead paraphernalia this year will probably plunge 70% or more, merchants predict. Markets, shops and roadside kiosks normally do a brisk seasonal business hawking special sweets and flowers and materials for homemade altars, along with the costumes that many young people don in a fusion with Halloween.

An ice cream vendor walks through the Valle de Chalco municipal cemetery as he sells to families decorating graves ahead of Day of the Dead.

(Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

“We are not selling anything right now,” lamented Evangelina Salazar, 73, who runs a flower stand outside the San Lorenzo Tezonco cemetery in the capital along with her husband, Francisco García, 75. “We are dedicated to selling flowers all year, and even if business is weak, we always make it up on the Day of the Dead. But now hardly anyone is buying anything.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has declared three days of national mourning starting Saturday. for the 90,000-plus cornavirus fatalities. Flags will stand at half-staff.

Beyond time-honored rites of closure and the graveside holiday festivities, the pandemic has forced the cancellation of the capital’s annual Day of the Dead parade, which draws hundreds of thousands of revelers to view floats with giant skeletons and other depictions of stylized death, along with dancing troupes and other attractions. The event has been moved to a stadium without spectators and will be available for online viewing. Other performances marking the holiday have also gone virtual, or will be open only to limited audiences.

Last week, authorities removed 50 large sculptured calaveras, or decorative skulls, that had been placed along central Reforma Avenue. The colorful sculptures had been drawing crowds.

“We are taking [the skulls] away so that they don’t become a factor that promotes the contagion,” explained Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.

Visitors to Valle del Chalco cemetery clean the grave of a family member.

(Fernando Llano / Associated Press)

Four days later, the mayor announced that she had tested positive for the virus and had gone into quarantine.

The most dramatic blow is the closing of the cemeteries, the focal point of Day of the Dead.

The day is less a communal lament about death than a kind of celebration of life and of lives past. It signals a spiritual union between the living and dead.

According to tradition, souls of the deceased share moments of intimacy on these days with loved ones who remain. Families bring tamales, pan de muerto (sweet bread) and sugary candy calaveras to gravesites. They tell jokes and recite stories about the deceased. Drinks, both the sweet and alcoholic variety, are consumed and left at tombs.

Gerardo De Los Angeles Gomez, 52, a plumber who brought flowers to the San Lorenzo Tezonco cemetery.

(Cecilia Sánchez / For The Times)

“I understand about the coronavirus, but how is it possible that we cannot see our dead?” asked Gerardo De Los Angeles Gómez, 52, a plumber who brought flowers to the San Lorenzo Tezonco cemetery, planning to leave them at the graves of his parents. “Our beloved dead come to visit us every year at this time. Who will they have with them this year? Their graves will be abandoned. Without a flower. Without a candle.”

At the San Nicolás Tolentino cemetery, Carmen Chávez, 37, implored that she be allowed in with her daughter, Jennifer, 10, to visit the grave of her husband. He died three years ago in a car crash.

“Please, my daughter was very excited about leaving flowers for her father,” she pleaded with a caretaker. “We won’t be long.”

The caretaker, Juan Rojas, 59, said he could not relent. He, too, appeared devastated. He recalled last year’s festivities.

A newly dug grave at the Valle de Chalco municipal cemetery.

(Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

“There were mariachis and norteño bands going from tomb to tomb, singing the favorite songs of the deceased,” Rojas remembered. “The cemetery was full of color with all the flowers that people brought, with the beautiful decorations on the tombs. … It is such a pleasure to see how the people come to be with their departed loved ones.”

Now, he added, “it’s so sad to know that, on this Day of the Dead, all will be abandoned. In silence.”

McDonnell is a Times staff writer and Sánchez is a special correspondent.

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[usfwspacific]

Dia de los Muertos - a Celebration of Life

When I was a teenager back in Baltimore, we used to travel downtown to the Westminster Burial Ground and Church on Halloween and tour the old catacombs and the gravesite of Edgar Allan Poe.  It was a party atmosphere where we reveled under the string of paper ravens suspended over the graveyard.  Little did I know that visiting a cemetery and toasting the spirit of the dead was a spiritual and cultural tradition dating back thousands of years?

While almost all Americans celebrate Halloween, a large portion of our population also celebrates Dia de los Muertos or the “Day of the Dead”.  What started as an Aztec celebration that lasted an entire  month, it has since been scaled down to just two days, starting at midnight on October 31 and continuing through November 2.  The ancient Aztecs believed that the spirits of the departed would not want us to mourn and would be insulted if we were sad.  So instead, they invite the spirits into their homes; welcome departed family members with a feast; and made offerings to these guests with food, candy and flowers.  

The original Aztec holiday changed when the Spanish arrived in Mexico and influenced the populace toward Catholicism. However, the time honored tradition could not be dismissed or forgotten, thus the celebration became combined with All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls Day (Nov. 2).  According to tradition, the first day of the Dia de los Muertos celebration is to welcome the souls of children that have passed, known as Día de los Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels).  The second day is when the adult souls arrive for the temporary visit from the underworld.

What does Día de los Muertos have to do with Fish and Wildlife?  Funny you should ask.  If you had asked that teenager sitting in Westminster Cemetery, I probably would have said, “First, what’s Dia de los Muertos?”  And then probably…. “Nothing.”   However, having spent 20 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I can tell you, there are so many things.  For example, life and death, spring and fall, butterflies and marigolds and more importantly, diversity, acceptance and education.

Dia de los Muertos is not about death, but a celebration of life; an awareness that death is a part of life and that when we recognize our own mortality, we can better connect with the natural world and its cycles of birth, growth and death.  By speaking with individuals who annually display altars honoring family members, I’ve learned that this holiday is a way to celebrate those who have passed on to the next world and an invitation for the spirits to come back for a visit, if just for a few days a year.  Families will sometimes set a place at the dinner table for absent family members and provide offerings, or “ofrendas.”  These are comprised of gifts for the departed which decorate the altars and are usually made up of candles, sugar skulls, food, beverages, clothes and marigolds.  

Why marigolds?  Marigolds, also known as cempasuchil, are believed to guide spirits with their vibrant colors and scent.  The ancient Aztecs grew cempasuchil and valued these vibrant orange flowering plants for their medicinal properties, organic pest repellant and natural beauty.  Aztec mythology indicates that the vibrant color of the marigolds represent the sun, and guides the spirits on their way to the underworld.  By using these flowers in Day of the Dead rituals, the strong aroma of the flowers attracts the spirits who wish to return to this world and helps them find their way.  The burning of copal incense is another method used to guide the spirits to the offerings left for them.

Butterflies and Dia de los Muertos.  The monarch butterfly is another symbol identifying this Mexican holiday and it may have something to do with the butterfly’s annual migration.  Every year, this amazing pollinator species would return to the villages in Mexico, inspiring the idea that monarchs are a manifestation of the soul and the connection to the underworld.  This time of year, when the monarchs return, the migration is viewed as the spirits of ancestors returning home to visit.  Some believe that when a loved one dies, holes are to be drilled into the coffins so that the soul (el alma), which may take the form of a butterfly, can escape.  Every spring, the amazing cycle begins again with the migratory journey north and the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly that represents the life’s triumph over death.

The monarch butterfly is currently in trouble. Monarch numbers have decreased significantly over the last 20 years, but together we can save the monarch and ensure that future Dia de los Muertos celebrations continue to be colorful and alive with the butterflies.  Anyone can help, no matter who you are or where you live.  Get involved today and start by planting native milkweed and nectar plants that support monarchs and other pollinators.  You can choose to garden organically to minimize your impacts on monarchs, their food plants and other pollinators.  Have you ever thought of becoming a citizen scientist? You could help monitor monarchs in your area.  And most important, educate others about pollinators, conservation and how they can help too.

Thinking back to those cold crisp nights in that Maryland cemetery and listening to the stories of ‘The Poe Toaster’ a secretive individual who, for 60 years, would creep onto the grounds of Westminster Church, and leave 3 red roses and a bottle of cognac on Mr. Poe’s grave, I wonder if this person knew of the Dia de los Muertos history and this special holiday.  I’d like to think so.  I’d like to think that his communication with the old horror master’s spirit and his gifts may come from some deep seeded, unconscious effort to connect with this ancestors.

Now that I have a better understanding of Dia de los Muertos and the emotional connection this spiritual celebration has with one’s community and family, I have a new respect for our natural and super-natural world.  When I see dancing skeletons, I’ll be reminded of dancing butterflies.  When I see family altars with food and flowers, I will be reminded of the circle of life and the precious gifts we’ve been granted, like pollinators and the seasons.  When I see families sitting in the cemetery playing cards and listening to music, I will understand the significance and perhaps join them with a rake to clear the falling leaves.

 So, don’t be frightened by the skeletons dressed in colorful attire, it’s just a beautiful, cultural tradition that embraces the spiritual connection to our past, the family members that we’ve loved and lost and the recognition of our own mortality and the fragility of life.  Tonight the gates of heaven will open at midnight and the spirits will join the living for the festivities prepared for them.

 Learn more about monarchs and pollinators from the Fish and Wildlife Service at:  https://www.fws.gov/savethemonarch/

http://usfwspacific.tumblr.com/post/53548569281/understanding-the-buzz-about-pollinators

Written by Jane Chorazy, USFWS PAO

Photo Credit:  Sydney Keith; Melissa Fossum and creative commons images.

[omgstupendousbouquetbasement]

US Honors Its War Dead on Memorial Day

The United States paused Monday to honor its war dead on the annual Memorial Day. With U.S. President Donald Trump in Japan on a state visit, Vice President Mike Pence was set to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider at Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington. Trump, before returning home, is marking the holiday with an address Tuesday to American troops at the Yokosuka U.S. Naval Base in Tokyo about the "global nature of the partnership between Japan and the U.S." Parades and somber remembrances are planned in U.S. cities large and small on Monday to recall the ultimate sacrifice that hundreds of thousands of Americans have borne for their country's freedom through its 243-year existence. It is estimated that 1.1 million Americans have died in conflict, but the largest single death toll — nearly a half million — came in the 19th century U.S. Civil War fought between northern and southern states over slavery, a practice ended after Union states in the northern U.S. prevailed. In the deadliest overseas conflict, more than 400,000 Americans were killed in World War II. Various places across the U.S. have been cited in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, with perhaps the first commemoration of war dead a few years after the Civil War ended in 1865. In early rural America, families often marked the day in late summer. For years, the memorial was known as Decoration Day and the fallen from all U.S. wars were remembered and their service honored. Memorial Day for years was set on May 30, but it became a national U.S. holiday in 1971 and now is celebrated on the last Monday in May. For some, a national moment of remembrance is set at 3 p.m. local time on the holiday. Families of the fallen often visit the gravesites of their loved ones or watch parades with bands and flag-waving marchers. But for other Americans, the day is unofficially the beginning of summer and part of a three-day weekend when families head to parks and the beach or enjoy picnics with friends and relatives. In Washington on Sunday, thousands of motorcycles roared through the streets for what organizers say will be the last Rolling Thunder celebration in the nation's capital. The annual Memorial Day tradition is meant to draw attention to more than 83,000 U.S. military personnel still listed as Missing in Action from World War I through the recent fighting in Iraq. The list also includes 126 people believed missing from operations related to the Cold War. The first Rolling Thunder was held in 1988. The cyclists usually meet up in a Pentagon parking lot and ride into downtown Washington across the various bridges spanning the Potomac River. But Rolling Thunder Executive Director Artie Muller said this is the last year he will hold the ride in Washington. Muller said he has grown frustrated with the Pentagon bureaucracy in coordinating the event. Mueller said sponsors, vendors and others have not been given access to parking lots even though Rolling Thunder said it paid "exorbitant permit fees." For many people, the group's decades-long presence with the loud roar of their motorcycle engines has become synonymous with Memorial Day activities in Washington. Trump says Rolling Thunder is always welcome in the city. "The Great Patriots of Rolling Thunder will be coming back to Washington, D.C. next year, and hopefully for many years to come. It is where they want to be and where they should be," Trump tweeted as he thanked the "great men & women of the Pentagon for working it out." In an interview with VOA, Muller said Rolling Thunder is "willing to talk" with the president. But despite the president's postings on Twitter, Muller said, "I think we really want to go nationwide" with local chapters holding their own observations on Memorial Day. Muller said the annual trek to the nation's capital is becoming too much for some Rolling Thunder members. "We're all getting old and can't ride that far," he said. For members who come from the West Coast, Muller said, "It a haul. You're talking 2 to 3,000 miles... That takes a lot out of you." Pentagon figures show 83,000 American military personnel remain unaccounted for. Most of them — about 73,000 — are from World War II. Upwards of 7,700 are from the Korean War, and more than 1,600 are from the Vietnam War. Trump, before he left for Tokyo to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said he is considering pardons for several military servicemen accused or convicted of war crimes, an action that critics say would be an abuse of his pardon powers. "We're looking at a lot of different pardons for a lot of different people," Trump said at the White House. "Some of these soldiers are people that have fought hard, long, you know. We teach them how to be great fighters and when they fight sometimes they get really treated very unfairly. So we're going to take a look at it," Trump said. He acknowledged that two or three cases were "a little bit controversial." But as Memorial Day dawned across the U.S., Trump had yet to announce any pardons.                   from Blogger http://bit.ly/2M9JcIf via IFTTT

[healveterans]

As this Memorial Day unfolds, honor those who gave their lives for our country; and allow the meaning of this day remain as part every day...

From Operation Freedom Paws: Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a tradition that began in the 1860s when groups of women in both North and South would gather together to put flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate loved ones who had died during the Civil War. May 30th was eventually selected as the official holiday because it was the best time for flowers to be in bloom. Country families would travel miles by wagon for the annual trek to honor their dead by cleaning headstones, tidying gravesites and placing flowers. It became a tradition to spread their handmade quilts on the shaded cemetery grass, and have an afternoon picnic before loading up the wagon and making the journey home. The first organized public event of this type was held in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1st, 1865 at the Hampton Park Race Course, which had been used as a Union POW camp. Over 200 dead were buried there in unmarked graves. To honor these soldiers, nearly 10,000 black residents of Charleston (including many former slaves and their families) gathered to clean up and landscape the grounds, build an enclosure, and install a commemorative arch labeled "Martyrs of the Race Course".

[iph2017]

Decoration Day!

Hello all! I had this set to post last week but user error got in the way so double post today.

The Daughters of Zion Cemetery had its annual celebration of Decoration Day Memorial day weekend, May 28, 2017. Decoration Day is the roots of what we all now know as Memorial Day. Memorial Day began in 1865 by African Americans to honor Union soldiers that had been buried in a Confederate prison camp turned mass gravesite. African Americans of Charleston, South Carolina worked diligently to move the bodies to proper, honorable gravesites. Decoration Day continued as a tradition to celebrate those who have died serving the country and in 1868 was an official holiday known as Memorial Day.

For the Daughters of Zion Cemetery, Decoration Day symbolizes pride and remembrance of one’s community and the people that worked to form it. Festivities kicked off at City Space on the Downtown Mall with with a welcome address from Bernadette Whitsett-Hammond followed by thoughtful addresses and prayers from various Baptist pastors as well as devoted community members: Dr. Lehman D. Bates, II, Dr. Alvin Edwards, Sr., and George Gohanna, Jr. Mayor Mike Signer of Charlottesville spoke of his support and admiration of the Preservers that was followed by a yearly overview of the Preserver’s progress and recognitions. Dr. Steve Thompson, lead archaeologist on the site summarized the ground penetrating radar research but also encouraged the Preservers saying that their “quiet perseverance” has been exemplary.

Conversation at the 2017 Decoration Day ceremony was saturated with remembrance. Ms. Whitsett-Hammond remarked, “There is room for everyone’s story to be told, for everyone’s story to be heard” pushing all as members of the City of Charlottesville to be collective and own all of our history together.  

After the ceremony light refreshments were provided by the Preservers as guest viewed the exhibit boards created by Professor Goff’s American Studies class that researched families buried in the Daughters of Zion Cemetery. Thankfully weather held and we were able to head over to the cemetery where individuals laid flowers on all the graves, taking personal time of reflection, concluding with a commemorating benediction.

While on social media this past week I saw someone post a “know your history” post explaining the beginnings of Memorial Day just as the Preservers of Daughters of Zion Cemetery explained their history. Watching others use social media as a platform to tell the stories that have long been forgotten is inspiring and telling of our generation’s goal to inform people of complete narratives.

[nearmidnightannex]

Memorial Day

The Overlooked Black History of Memorial Day (time.com) BY OLIVIA B. WAXMAN MAY 22, 2020 12:00 PM EDT

Nowadays, Memorial Day honors veterans of all wars, but its roots are in America’s deadliest conflict, the Civil War. Approximately 620,000 soldiers died, about two-thirds from disease.

The work of honoring the dead began right away all over the country, and several American towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Researchers have traced the earliest annual commemoration to women who laid flowers on soldiers’ graves in the Civil War hospital town of Columbus, Miss., in April 1866. But historians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers’ graves a year earlier, to make sure their story gets told too.

According to Blight’s 2001 book Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, a commemoration organized by freed slaves and some white missionaries took place on May 1, 1865, in Charleston, S.C., at a former planters’ racetrack where Confederates held captured Union soldiers during the last year of the war. At least 257 prisoners died, many of disease, and were buried in unmarked graves, so black residents of Charleston decided to give them a proper burial...

[...] About 10,000 people, mostly black residents, participated in the May 1 tribute, according to coverage back then in the Charleston Daily Courier and the New York Tribune. [...] The New York Tribune described the tribute as “a procession of friends and mourners as South Carolina and the United States never saw before.” The gravesites looked like a “one mass of flowers” and “the breeze wafted the sweet perfumes from them” and “tears of joy” were shed....

[...]  In 1996, Blight stumbled upon a New York Herald Tribune article detailing the tribute in a Harvard University archive — but the origin story it told was not the Memorial Day history that many white people had wanted to tell, he argues...

[wayparkingblog]

How to Celebrate Memorial Day With Social Distancing

Memorial Day 2020, dedicated to the brave men and women who lost their lives while serving for the United States Armed Forces, is almost upon us. Even though all 50 states of the country are gearing up for reopening after their subsequent lockdowns, large gatherings, and parades which usually accompany Memorial Day celebrations, would still be off-limits. However, there are still reasons to be happy as some of the states like New York have decided to allow gatherings of up to 10 people for the Memorial Day week. Memorial Day is also considered as the unofficial start of summer (which unfortunately is still more or less under lockdown). Regardless of how strict or eased up restrictions are in your county or state, make sure that you always maintain social distancing at all times and avoid spending prolonged hours in public. Always wear masks whenever you go out and wash your hands at the soonest after coming back. If you are not comfortable going out, there are plenty of ways, there are still plenty of ways to observe the national observation from the safety of your home.

Update Local Regulations

Before heading out or inviting friends and family to spend Memorial Day together, check with local authorities on what is allowed and what is not. The last thing we need during a memorial weekend amidst the coronavirus pandemic is to get into unnecessary trouble with law enforcement. While all states are reopening, there are differences in how the reopening is being enforced. The number of positive coronavirus cases plays a crucial role in how the different counties have approached the reopening. Other factors like population density, overall positive coronavirus cases reported, medical and health capacities are all taken into account. So, it is ideal to reach out to your local administration before venturing out, or just keep tabs on your local news.

Honor the Fallen Heroes

The annual day of remembrance is a reminder of the countless sacrifices that men and women who served the country made to shape the world as we see it today. Honor their sacrifices and service to the country by visiting your local, national cemetery to decorate their tombstones with flowers and the US flag (if it is allowed). Some cities like South Wisconsin, are making arrangements for flags to be placed on tombs, in a bid to minimize people crowding at the national cemetery. Spend time with the families who have kin that served in the armed forces, buried in the cemetery (provided it can be achieved with social distancing guidelines). You can also decorate your houses with Memorial Day tributes in red, white, and blue ribbons for the day, as a tribute to the fallen heroes.  Just make sure that you are following the etiquettes of hoisting the US flag. The flag should also be relatively new and in proper condition. While hoisting the flag, make sure that the flag is always aloft and free.  

Barbeque in the Backyard

Memorial Day, with eased restrictions, is the perfect time to both spend some time outdoors and catch up with some of your close friends. Of course, an extended family gathering is still not allowed in most of the counties, but as long as we keep the numbers below ten, it will probably be alright. Make sure you plan ahead and go grocery shopping well in advance to be ready for the BBQ. Reserve your parking spot ahead of your travel. If BBQ  (especially when you are serving friends) is not your thing, consider checking out your nearby restaurants or diners for takeout. Having a Meal Pass Subscription, let’s you access some of the best deals in your area.

Parades of any sort are still far away from being implemented anywhere across the world, and we could say the same for Memorial Day Parades. As parades often feature hundreds of people participating, and also attracts an equally large number of spectators, it would be unlikely for any parades to take place on the last Monday of May. However, some neighborhoods and local groups have acquired permission from the authority to host vehicle parades between a designated time period on Monday. There will still be restrictions enforced when it comes to how many people are allowed to board the vehicle.  

Take Part in the National Moment of Remembrance

The National Moment of Remembrance is scheduled to take place from 3:00PM – 3:30PM EDT on May 25th. The proclamation of remembrance is available for download online on the internet. In line with social distancing norms and state guidelines of reopening, there will be no access for the public into the Arlington National Cemetry throughout the Memorial Week. Relatives of army men and women who are buried in the cemetery will be allowed entry into the gravesites provided they have the possession of a family pass. However, the pass only allows the family members to visit the grave. It is not confirmed whether there would be a public Memorial Day ceremony, including the wreath-laying ceremony this year. There are still possibilities for the event to take place virtually. You can take part in the National Moment of Remembrance by observing a one-minute silence and reading of the proclamation.

Source: https://www.way.com/blog/how-to-celebrate-memorial-day-with-social-distancing/

[myorganicsleep-blog]

Honor the Fallen this Memorial Day

    With Memorial Day coming up, it’s important to remember the men and women who died serving in the U.S. military that allow us to sleep soundly at night. Originally known as Decoration Day, the holiday began as a way to honor fallen soldiers after the Civil War. Citizens in towns and cities across America independently began holding tributes in the 1860s. They decorated gravesites with flowers and flags, and recited prayers.        General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, first called for a nationwide day of remembrance on May 30th, 1868. The date for this Decoration Day was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle. This first major celebration was held at Arlington National Cemetery, where 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were buried.      Annual events were held across various Northern states, while Southern states had their traditions on different days of the year. When World War I came around, the holiday evolved to honor soldiers lost in all wars.        While its unclear where this tradition originated, the federal government designated Waterloo, New York as the official birthplace of Memorial Day in 1966. In 1968, 100 years after John Logan’s original declaration of remembrance, Congress established the last Monday in May as Memorial Day to create a three-day weekend for federal employees.        Today, Memorial Day is a time to stop and reflect - to pay tribute to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice so that the rest of us can live safely and comfortably.   https://www.myorganicsleep.com/blogs/news/honor-the-fallen-this-memorial-day

[freebestsof]

Discovering Antebellum Home History Tours Columbus MS

By Henry Cox

When it comes to vacations, most people never think about Columbus, MS. While this is the case, the city actually has a lot to offer including history tours Columbus MS. For, there are numerous antebellum style homes, antique shops, delectable dining, annual events and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. As such, with a rich historical heritage, the city can be the perfect destination for a quick get away or long stay for anyone whom loves classic Southern architecture, gentle kind hospitality, good food, fun and entertainment. Originally founded in 1819, and originally believed to be in Alabama, the town was first recognized by the Alabama Legislative Act as the town of Columbus on December 6, 1819. Originally known as Possum Town, a name provided by the local Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes before becoming incorporated. To this day, Possum Town remains the nickname for the city among local townies and the few Native Americans which reside in the area. The first school, Franklin's Academy was established shortly after the city was founded. Now known for being Mississippi's first public school, it has and continues to serve the children of Columbus whom live in the district. Although, a boundary had to be moved for the school to be recognized as the first public school in Mississippi, as the building originally sat on the border of Alabama. As the Civil War took place in this area, American history is alive and well in Columbus. For, the town provided services including cannons, handguns and was the arsenal for gun powder manufactured in the city. Whereas, the city also served as a hospital town for wounded civilians and soldiers. While there was an order for the Union Army to invade the town, Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate General stopped the attempted invasion. The event has been well documented in a book by the title, The Battle of West Point, written by John McBride. The book includes several stories related to the many casualties as well as the thousands which would be buried in the local cemetery during and after the war. If anyone has ever wondered where the American holiday known as Memorial Day was born, it was in Columbus. For, a group of women from the town decided to decorate the Confederate and Union gravesites with flowers on April 25, 1866. More recently, Bellware and Gardiner noted this as the first official observance of the holiday in The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America, published in 2014. The beautiful antebellum homes and local architecture were spared thanks to Forrest preventing the Union Army from reaching the town, making the city's historic homes one of only two collections and one of the most extensive in Mississippi. The historic homes are open during an annual pilgrimage event in which Columbus residents open homes to tourists from around the world. One of the towns most historic figures is that of Attorney Jacob H. Sharp. For, Sharp served as Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. The attorney also owned the local independent newspaper and was elected to the State House twice, representing the city in the State House of Representatives.

About the Author:

You can find a summary of the reasons why you should book history tours Columbus MS area at http://bit.ly/2AjIO1j right now.

Discovering Antebellum Home History Tours Columbus MS from FreeBestsOf http://bit.ly/2DA625h

[themegamenarablr]

Discovering Different History Tours Columbus MS

By Henry Cox

When most people think of vacations, Columbus, Mississippi rarely comes to mind. For, what most people do not know is that area is rich in history. As such, there are a number of Antebellum Home and other history tours Columbus MS which take place throughout the year. In addition, there are quaint antique shops, restaurants, annual festivals and the unforgettable Tennessee-Tomigbee Waterway which is a favorite among tourists and locals. The town, founded in 1819 was originally thought to sit in Alabama though was later recognized as Columbus, Mississippi by an Alabama legislative act on December 6, 1819. During that time, the Native Americans were calling the area Possum Town, then once the town was incorporated it became better known as Columbus. Although, locals and the few Native American tribes which reside in the area continue to use Possum Town, which has become a beloved nickname over the years. City founders, not long after the city had been incorporated, established a local school known as Franklin's Academy. The school remains in operation and is known as Mississippi's first public school. While now located in Mississippi, a boundary had to be moved. For, when first built the school was considered to be in Alabama. The Civil War made a huge impact on the town. For, the city provided artillery, equipment and services to soldiers and civilians during the war. In fact, the town was considered one of the best hospital towns during that time for serving soldiers and civilians, regardless of political affiliation. While an order went out to the Union Army to invade the town, Nathan Bedford Forrest prevented the invasion before it began. An event which is well documented in a book by John McBride titled The Battle of West Point. The book contains different stories regarding the events which took place in the area during the war, including the thousands of soldiers buried at the local cemetery and casualties which were sent to the town hospital. If anyone has ever wondered where the American holiday known as Memorial Day was born, it was in Columbus. For, a group of women from the town decided to decorate the Confederate and Union gravesites with flowers on April 25, 1866. More recently, Bellware and Gardiner noted this as the first official observance of the holiday in The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America, published in 2014. The beautiful antebellum homes and local architecture were spared thanks to Forrest preventing the Union Army from reaching the town, making the city's historic homes one of only two collections and one of the most extensive in Mississippi. The historic homes are open during an annual pilgrimage event in which Columbus residents open homes to tourists from around the world. One of the most well known, respected and historic figures to come out of Columbus would be that of an attorney by the name of Jacob H. Sharp. Sharp, represented the city in the House of Representatives after having been elected twice to the State House. The attorney also served as Brigadier General in the Confederate Army and owned the city's local independent newspaper.

About the Author:

You can find a summary of the reasons why you should book history tours Columbus MS area at http://bit.ly/2AjIO1j right now.

Discovering Different History Tours Columbus MS amaraweb http://bit.ly/2DoF6oF via IFTTT