Knockout Roses
Poetry about the beauty, heritage and history of the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina appear on this blog.
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Memorial Day
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Decoration Day
Today I decorated the graves of my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparent. Many of my relatives are buried at Many Forks Baptist Church Cemetery in the Gum Log section of Towns County, Georgia.
Many Forks Baptist Church holds Decoration Day on the fourth Sunday of May. Many churches don't hold these occasions anymore. This is an old-time tradition in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
My family attended the decoration when I grew up in the mountains. Some people gathered on Saturday before the Sunday event to decorate the graves of loved ones. On Sunday morning worship service was held in the country church. After peaching, they held dinner-on-the-grounds. Back in the 1960's-1970's, they built tables under the shade trees for the lunch. The mountain women brought boxes of food to spread on the linen-covered tables. It was indeed a feast. The women fixed their favorite recipes for the decoration.
You can see in the photo that the women brought a wonderful selection of homemade desserts. Pies, banana pudding, blackberry cobblers, black walnut cakes, pound cakes, coconut cakes, and many other mouth-watering desserts graced the tables.EASTER
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