Memorial Day 2022

Tomorrow in the US, we celebrate Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor and remember all those of our soldiers who died in war. As is the norm, while businesses and schools may be closed tomorrow, the actual celebration of our honored military dead occurred today. For those outside the US, Memorial Day is always the last Monday in May and it became a national holiday in 1971. 

In my House today, it’s a day to remember the military dead with prayers, offerings, libations, and ritual. We tell their stories, tend their shrine (there is a separate shrine to the military dead in my ancestor shrine room), and visit graves. I’m part of the local Cemetery Committee in my town, and we arranged with the local Scout troop to have flags put on the military graves in all our cemeteries (there are quite a few in my area). Some towns have parades, and there is usually a ceremony at the American legion hall (ours had one this morning). 

I believe it is right and proper to remember our dead. We are here because we had ancestors who made hard choices. We are here because of ancestors who took up arms in defense of their land, their values, their families, the future of their families. This Memorial Day I pray for all our military dead, and I pray for all those who have died in defense of their country, this year especially those in Ukraine. There is a saying I hear often in pagan circles: “What is remembered, lives.” So, may they always live in the memory of those who remain. Hail them.