Memorial Day – Traditions from the Past

Following the traditions from the past, cemeteries across the nation are decorated with flags and flowers on Memorial Day.  

The family cemeteries here in our neck of the woods are no exception.  

For many years, my mom has been placing flags on the veterans’ graves in our family’s cemeteries for Memorial Day. 

She loads up her side-by-side with the flowers and the small American flags.  A couple days before Memorial Day weekend, she visits the cemeteries to pay tribute to the veterans and other family members who are buried there.

I’m not really sure when or why she took over this tradition, but she has done it for as long as I can remember.  What a humble and honorable thing to do.  

Decoration Day

My mom’s side of the family has gathered for this occasion on the first Sunday after Memorial Day for many years. 

When I was a kid, aunts, uncles, and cousins came to “Decoration” “up on the hill” at Wildcat, West Virginia.  For the most part, we only saw these folks once a year. 

This gathering was more like a family reunion.  Tables were spread with covered dishes of all sorts of delicious homemade food, while a separate table held all of the yummy desserts.  If you left hungry, it was your own fault.

After dinner, we’d load into the beds of pickup trucks and head high upon the hill above the old home place to the cemetery. Some of the more sprite folks choose to walk the trail through the woods up to the cemetery.  

Decoration Day was always an opportunity to share memories of our loved ones.  And it almost always turned into a lesson in genealogy.  

Some of these graves date back several generations, as the Lowthers settled that area pre-Civil War.  Some graves are marked with rocks instead of tombstones.

It’s a beautiful place to be laid to rest – high up on that mountain you can see for miles across the lower hilltops.

Keeping Traditions Alive

In recent years, the Decoration Day gathering at the Lowther Farm has become smaller as the older generations have passed away. 

I have to admit, I haven’t been faithful about attending Decoration too often in my adult years.  

I wonder how long these traditions will continue.  Will the future generations keep them alive?  Will my children, or grandchildren visit the family graves during Memorial Day? Will the next generations continue having Decoration at Lowthers?  Will they take over placing the flags on the veteran’s graves some day?  I hope so.

And so, I am starting to realize more and more, as I grow older, that we need to make these traditions a priority and instill their value into our childrens’ lives.  

Do they even understand why it’s important?  Do they know the meaning behind the traditions?  Do they know their aunts, uncles and cousins?

It’s up to us to tell them…to show them…that it’s not just about a flower or a flag on the grave.  It’s about getting to know our extended family.  It’s remembering our loved ones and what they sacrificed for the future generations. It’s giving our time and physical presence to the commitment of keeping those memories and traditions alive.

The traditions we create now, will become the memories our children will cherish in the future.

What does your family do for Memorial Day? 

Would you like to carry on the traditions of the past in your neck of the woods?