Growing up, I always put American flags around the house and yard with my siblings and my parents took us to a Memorial Day remembrance service. 
Of course, there was also usually a cookout, and even though it’s a serious day of reflection, I remember it fondly, playing with the neighbor kids and feeling like summer was beginning.
As an adult I haven’t really observed Memorial Day in a meaningful way, and now that I have kids of my own especially I’d like to do something to mark this important day. Curious to know if anyone has any meaningful traditions or ways they observe Memorial Day.
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through bars thanks for asking.
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I loved the article. Here is a tradition that I heard, and I was really amazed. Uh, fascinated by. It goes like this. A Grandmother in a small town would cook a Memorial Dinner every year, and invite the families of the lost to her own house for a holiday-style banquet.
She did this in much the same way one today brings over a casserole or sends a gift basket following a funeral. Much in the same way as the “Cup of Consolation.” Feeding those who are mourning is deeply embedded in ancient Near Eastern and Biblical culture. In the ancient world, it was understood that a person paralyzed by grief would not, or could not, cook for themselves.
In the Jewish tradition, this evolved into a formal commandment known as the Seudat Havra’ah, the “meal of comfort” or “meal of condolence”. By Jewish law, a mourner returning home from a burial is actually forbidden from eating their own food for their first meal. The community must provide it. Traditionally, this meal includes round foods like eggs or lentils. The round shape symbolizes the wheel of life, the cyclical nature of existence, and the reality that life must go on even in the face of loss. Perhaps @Johann can correct me if I’m wrong.
Over centuries, as European cultures Christianized, the focus shifted away from feeding the spirits of the dead and entirely toward physically sustaining the living family members left behind. Ultimately, the tradition survived because when words fail, food becomes a tangible substitute. It says, “I cannot fix your pain, but I can take care of your body while you carry it.”
So the Grandmother would do this to honor those service families that paid the ultimate price. I thought this was a pretty cool tradition. Sadly, I have never done the same, but I currently live quite literally in the middle of nowhere. So the only things I can feed is wild life.
Peter
I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
And I love that tradition. Thank you for sharing it! Traditions that pay attention to our embodied existence as human beings are so powerful and always resonate with me. Food is often so much more than nourishment for our physical bodies.
That wheel of life symbolism is helpful too. I like how it acknowledges the loss but also provides hope.
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Does the prison offer any kind of Memorial Day service you can attend or stream online? How would you observe it if you could?
No dear, If it had not been for my letter writing campaign two years ago there would be no Bibles. This is a jail designed to a) turn a huge profit off human suffering b) make you beg the judge to send you to prison
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