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.
5 comments:
I remember this in KY when I was young. Thanks for sharing!
When my paternal grandmother was alive we always visited the graves of my past family members for Decoration Day. That was our own tradition which has now been forgotten. Janice
I remember as a child going to the graveyard with my mom, grandma and aunts to decorate the graves. Grandma would make bouquets from her snowball bush and rose bushes. My dad and mom always decorated lots of family member graves each Memorial Day. Even after I was married, I continued to go with them. Now that they are gone, we still gather up bunches of flowers to visit the graves at three and sometimes four different cemeteries.
Your post rekindles my memories of "Decoration Sunday". It was a wonderful time that I'm so fortunate to have enjoyed.BVLW
I have never experienced anything like that. My grandparents in north central Mississippi had a country church with lots of sweet people. I miss those days. Thank you for sharing such wonderful memories.
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