Appeared:
The Androgynous on May 23, 2014
For anyone that knows me well, I am a sucker for random trivia. I find basically everything interesting from comic book facts to Civil War history. Basically nobody will play me in Trivial Pursuit for some odd reason and there were only a few people who dared to play The Simpsons Trivia Game with me back in the day! (And by the way, I still have The Simpson’s: Homer’s Trivia Game circa 2001, so if anyone is up for a game let me know!) So, I thought I would share my affinity for geeky trivia facts with all of you! I searched the web high and low, far and wide, and even browsed through some of my random American history books to find the best and most interesting information I could find about Memorial Day! It was extremely tough for me to narrow it down to only ten, but if you would like to contact me via my social media links, I would LOVE to send you my entire list! 😉 Here we go!
10. Memorial Day was originally called “Decoration Day” because the women of the Union would decorate the graves of those who died serving in the Civil War.
9. Technically, Memorial Day is NOT a Federal or National holiday. Each state had to choose whether they wanted to observe it or not (New York was the first state to officially observe the holiday).
8. It was decided that Memorial Day would be celebrated at the end of each May because no matter where you lived in the United States, flowers would be in full bloom by then.
7. Memorial Day was not a federally recognized holiday until 1971. It was originally designated to be observed on May 30th each year.
6. When Congress officially recognized Memorial Day, they changed the observance of the holiday from May 30th to the last Monday of May because they wanted to encourage employers to give their workers a day off to celebrate Memorial Day. (I prefer to believe that it was because THEY wanted the three-day weekend for themselves, but hey, who doesn’t?!) By placing the holiday on a Monday it would not be as disruptive to the traditional workweek. (For more information on this, look up The Uniform Monday Holiday Act).
5. In 2000, Congress enacted a National Moment of Remembrance, which asks Americans to pause for one minute in silence at 3pm.
4. 3pm was chosen for the moment of silence because they said that 3pm “is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday.”
3. The Southern states did not begin to recognize the observance of Memorial Day until after World War I when it began to include the remembrance of those who died in ANY war and not just the Civil War.
2. On Memorial Day, the American Flag should be placed at half-staff until 12:00 noon and then raised to the top of the staff. In the morning we are remembering over one million men and women who gave their lives in the service of their country. Then at noon, their memory is “raised by the living” who should resolve to not let their sacrifice be in vain.
1. Wearing a red poppy is a tradition on Memorial Day (although, I had never actually realized this!). The tradition was inspired by a poem written by Moina Michael in 1915. Moina was officially the first person to wear the red poppy. She sold poppies to her friends, family, and co-workers with all of the money raised used to help servicemen in need.
“We cherish too, the Poppy red,
That grows in fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.”
I hope you found the trivia interesting! Maybe you can share some of them with your friends and family while you barbecue, picnic, and light fireworks and then try to find SOME way to honor the great men and women who have died to keep us free.
lindseysmusings 