Last Monday, we celebrated what is now called Memorial Day, honoring those who gave their “last full measure of devotion” to our country and their fellow Americans, in battles fought by our country throughout history. After the day of this Celebration of Honor was declared a National Day of Celebration in 1868, the date to celebrate this day was established as the 30th of May, which happens to be today, and the original name for the Celebration of this sacrifice by so many, became Decoration Day.

The beginning of the celebration of Decoration Day, came about after the Civil War ended, and was not declared by a President, or Congress, but by General John A. Logan, and was celebrated on May 5, 1868. The purpose of the celebration of the day was to decorate the graves of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of freedom. The first National Decoration Day celebration (not yet a holiday) took place in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, the site of the home of General Robert E. Lee, of the Confederacy. It was highlighted by 5000 who gathered and listened to a Representative from Ohio, who would later become President James A. Garfield. After his speech, the 5000 visitors walked through the cemetery to visit the graves, honoring the fallen. The day was still not an official holiday then but it was celebrated by many local states and municipalities. Each of the Civil War Union States adopted Decoration Day by the year 1890.

Through the years, many referred to the day as Memorial Day, though the official name was Decoration Day and stood for 83 years, when in 1967 the U. S. Government passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, a Federal Law, and designated certain holidays to be celebrated on a Monday, so federal workers could have three-day weekends. The act also officially was arranged for the day to be officially renamed Memorial Day. (Other days that also became affected by being celebrated on Mondays were: Columbus Day, Labor Day, President’s Day, and the act has since added Dr. Martin Luther King Day on the Monday closets to his birthday, and, and Juneteenth Day, celebrated on June 19th. Of the original Federal holidays, only Veterans’ Day (November 11) and the Fourth of July (July 4) are still celebrated on the calendar day with which they were marked.

The date of Decoration/Memorial Day may have changed, and the designation of being an officially named federal holiday may have changed, but the celebration and the purpose of the day itself hasn’t changed. A few weeks before the last Monday in May, you meet some of the same people you meet every year at that time of year, buying flowers to be re-planted at the gravesites of those family members who died in any of the wars in which our country participated. You then see many of those people at the cemeteries where their loved ones who died in battle are laid to rest, on their hands and knees decorating the resting places and many of those marking graves of a veteran with a small American Flag. Yes, Memorial Day lends a deep meaning to the day, and it should be celebrated and revered, and those who gave their lives in battle should be remembered those for dedicating themselves to the preservation of the ideals of the constitution of our country on our ground, and foreign grounds. It is a place to memorialize those who gave themselves for Country, God, and Freedom. There is a lot to be said about the former designation of the day, Decoration Day, as we see, in our time, what many of those people saw walking through Arlington Cemetery back in 1886, the graves of the fallen are decorated with flowers, flags, bows, wreaths, and whatever else they placed to honor those lost in battle.

There is symbolism in this act, as often, soldiers are honored by their branch of service, for heroic acts, their showing of bravery, going above and beyond, their being wounded in battle, among other things. In those situations, those soldiers still alive, or those honored posthumously, are presented with a ribbon or medal being pinned on their uniform, or given to family, in an act of decorating the soldier in question.

So, I guess we can ask, which is a better name for the day, Decoration Day, or Memorial Day? It’s really a 50-50 call. Both names fit the celebration of the day equally as well, so the better question might come from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet asked Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” It doesn’t matter if we celebrate the decoration of graves of those who died in war, or those who earned special recognition which warranted them posthumous decoration, or if we celebrate the memories of those who died in the preservation and protection of people, and/or the Constitution of the United States of America. It all falls under the Blanket of Freedom for which so many died.

Today, as we did this past Monday, let us ask God to bless all those who gave that last full measure of devotion by laying down their lives in defense of their families, their friends, their God, and their country.