Many of my relatives are buried at Many Forks Baptist Church in Towns County, Georgia. Each year on the fourth Sunday in May, they hold Decoration Day. Families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves of loved ones. Worship service is held of the morning, then they break for dinner-on-the-grounds. That afternoon a singing is held in the church. This old-time mountain tradition is fading away.
Decorating graves was founded to remember deceased soldiers. It was the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, passed by Congress in 1968, that officially changed Decoration Day to Memorial Day effective in 1971.
I recall my mama made roses from crepe paper for the decoration. Flowers were cut from crepe paper, dipped in melted wax to form the roses. Mama made a box of these flowers to place on the graves of loved ones.
Before the men made tables from planks, dinner-on-the-grounds was held on blankets that they spread on the ground under the shade trees. The women brought boxes of food to the dinner. Most mountain women grew a garden and there were loads of vegetables, fried chicken, cakes, pies, banana pudding, gallons of sweet tea. No one left hungry.
I miss those times gathering at the country church each May to decorate the graves of loved ones, savor dinner-on-the-grounds, listen to groups lifting praises with their musical instruments. Old-time preachers delivered uplifting messages to warm the hearts of those who attended the worship service.
