As kids get done with school for the year, and we celebrate the official start of beach season, Memorial Day is a time to celebrate the coming of summer with friends. It's also a day to remember members of the military who have fallen in battle while defending their country. Flowers are a common way that Americans celebrate and remember on Memorial Day.
How Did Memorial Day Begin?
In the late 1860s, America was still recovering from the Civil War, and people were starting to remember the fallen by making trips to cemeteries to place flowers on graves. With the popularity of those gatherings increasing each year, it wasn't long before the federal government joined in by creating an official date of remembrance at the end of May.
Over the next century, the holiday would grow and develop into the one we celebrate today as a federal holiday where barbecues, parties, and trips to the beach are common. The day is also marked by parades and patriotic flowers placed on graves or displayed as a decorative feature at a dinner or barbecue.
Celebrating Memorial Day with Flowers
Did you know that placing flowers on soldiers graves has been a tradition for centuries? When families began placing flowers on graves on Memorial Day, it was a tradition that had already been in practice in other centuries where wars had taken their toll on the population. As a continuation of that tradition, families and friends today often place red roses on the graves of soldiers as a sign of respect and remembrance.
Celebrating at home or on the beach with a barbecue is a popular tradition each May in Southern California, and flowers are a beautiful way to honor the day. Sometimes sympathy flowers are used during visits to the cemetery, but flowers at home are often displayed in a more festive manner in bright and beautiful colors of red, white, and blue.
It can be significant to choose flowers in specific colors for their symbolism and meaning, such as adding blue flowers to an arrangement to symbolize loyalty. You might be wondering what flowers can come in blue, and youd be right to assume theyre not terrifically common. Delphinium flowers are a perfect choice for inclusion in a red, white, and blue arrangement.
This year, celebrate Memorial Day with a beautiful and patriotic arrangement for your barbecue or a small bouquet of roses for a grave of a loved one who served bravely for his or her country and paid the ultimate price to defend America.
