In some of our archive material on Memorial Day, there was a common thread among many of the pieces: How do we participate in Memorial Day? 

The pieces share rituals of those mourning and rejoicing in their fellow brothers and sisters who have given their lives for the United States. Chris Gehrz describes his “annual pilgrimage, to a place made sacred by the struggles of people” to visit his cousin Mike at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Roger Brady reflects on a memorial service he witnessed in Paris commemorating French and American soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and World War II. Dan Vallone challenges us to confront the discomfort and pain we feel when visiting gravesites because practicing the “rituals of closure” provides us “the space to experience both the full magnitude of loss and the much greater promise of resurrection found in death.”

Memorial Day can easily lose its meaning if we distance ourselves from what it represents. These rituals of remembrance create these sacred spaces only if we remember why we get a day off to mourn and reflect on those who have died protecting us. In looking at how we participate in Memorial Day, we can also recommit to why we reserve the day.