The True Meaning of Memorial Day

Traditionally, Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and a weekend full of parades, hamburgers and long road trips. Most importantly, it’s a day to remember those who have died in defense of this country, although the holiday had a rocky start in this regard.

Despite its status as a national holiday, the origins of what was once known as “Decoration Day” are shrouded in incomplete historical records and the division between the North and the South caused by the Civil War.

According to USMemorialDay.org, the original name for the holiday was inspired when women adorned Confederate soldiers’ gravestones after the Civil War ended. But tensions between the two regions caused the holiday to be stuck in limbo as a national celebration for more than 50 years.

Memorial Day was first proclaimed in 1868 when the graves of soldiers buried at Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C. were decorated. By 1890, all the northern states adopted the holiday, but the South refused and celebrated the dead in their own ways. That changed in the early 20th century, when the holiday was changed to also honor the people who died in World War I.

In 1971, the U.S. Congress officially made Memorial Day a federal holiday.