Memorial Day Fun Facts

Happy Thursday!  I'm excited to have next Monday off school (two and a half weeks left this year).  Memorial Day isn't just about white sales, mattress sales, and discounts!  Here are some fun facts about Memorial Day.

1.  We (the United States) observe Memorial Day to remember those who have lost their lives in service to our country.

2.  The holiday was originally called Decoration Day.

3.  Decoration Day was a day to decorate or take care of the final resting places of loved ones who had passed on.

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4.  Honoring the dead from the Civil War was the original purpose of Decoration Day.

5.  General consensus is that May of 1868 was the first Memorial Day.

6.  General James Garfield gave a speech at Arlington Cemetery that year.

7.  New York was the first state to recognize Memorial Day as a holiday.

8.  Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May.

9.  Waterloo, NY claims to be the birthplace of Memorial Day, but so do about two dozen other cities.

10.  Ulysses S. Grant was President when Memorial Day began.

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11.  Red poppies are often worn on Memorial Day.  This is in reference to a poem written in 1915 by Moina Michael.

We cherish, too the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

12.  Memorial Day is a Federal (not national) holiday created by Congress.  This applies to Federal employees and the District of Columbia.

13.  States that observe Memorial Day do so by enactment of their state's Congress.

Information about Memorial Day can be found here and here. Memorial Day is also a time of accidents:  cars, boats, swimming.  Be careful and enjoy a safe Memorial Day weekend!  You can link up with Thursday Thirteen here!

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