Yeah, I guess we celebrate it incorrectly. It is originally (and technically) a holiday to remember those who die in service to our country, but we extend that to remembering, well, everyone. But at least it's pretty! And we may honor everyone who has ever passed, but we still do have special services for veterans and for those who have died in service. So then again, I'd say we just celebrate it extra. Supersize-style or something.
Anyway, part of the assignment included taking pictures, so here I am to share those.
Some people will just put potted plants (as in, from their porch) at a grave and then pick them up later:
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| And some people go Pinterest-style and paint Mason jars and use wildflowers... I do love the look of this yellow yarrow though. |
Others go for simple and sweet:
Most commonly, people will have a mixture of traditional funeral arrangements and potted mums:
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| I have no clue who is buried here. We were required to include a picture with our face in it at the cemetery. |
My favorite this year was just a bunch of hydrangea and peonies thrown together:
Isn't it such a pretty holiday? My friend from Texas was all weirded out by it, but it's just part of life for me since I've lived here forever. I think it's a possibility that funerals and death in Utah are generally more welcome and open of a topic than in most places (?). I know that talking about death has never phased me, which I attribute to my knowledge of and faith in (and gratitude for) the plan of salvation. Also, funerals are never too somber of an event, in my experience, and in many cases are a great celebration of the life of whoever has passed on. It's just part of Utah culture (by which I suppose I really mean LDS culture, as Utah is gradually becoming more and more diverse) to mourn for a small season and celebrate beyond. This life is not the end! Families can be together forever, so death for you and death for me are nothing more than a crucial step toward that. With the perspective of eternities before this life and eternities beyond, separation from those we love by death is really, truly temporary. And so we celebrate what we had while we had it. And we put flowers on graves to reminisce.
Now I'm curious if it really is a "Utah thing" or not, so holler if you do this where you live. Or if you don't do this. Or whatever. How do you celebrate Memorial Day?
Arright! Yes, you guys do it differently. Memorial Day here is for those who fell in service, but gets extended to all veterans in practice. If you go to a Memorial Day service at a cemetery (which most cemeteries have), it will be patriotic and talk about those who have fallen in service to our country. It is customary to bring flowers to gravesites of those who fell in service and, like I mentioned, that is often extended to all who served in the military. All cemeteries will have flags placed on the gravesites of veterans, whether by the cemetery staff or local Boy Scouts troops. Plenty of people will bring things to the gravesite of a non-military person just because they are at the cemetery that day, but Memorial Day is for the veterans. For non-military cemeteries, services are Patriotic and somewhat somber, but at the VA cemeteries the services are quite somber, because, after all, it is basically a day memorializing premature deaths and at a military cemetery, the audience is likely to include many people who lost family members, friends, or fellow soliders in service. Working in cemeteries for a while now and in VA cemeteries specifically now for the past few years, I understand what a hard day it is for many people.
ReplyDeleteAnd to take a complete tangent: that is why Memorial Day sales are, I think, pretty disrespectful. It feels sort of like showing up at a funeral and trying to offer someone discounts on flip-flops. Not the right time and pretty irreverent. BOOM. Unsolicited opinions all over your blog!