Memorial Day was once called Decoration Day. In the United States, the first “official” Decoration Day was on May 30, 1868. However, that event was inspired by newly freed men and women in Charleston, South Carolina, who wanted to provide proper burials and commemorate the United States Colored Troops.
Today, Decoration Day lives on as a Southern, primarily Appalachian, and Liberian tradition to clean and decorate the cemetery where loved ones were laid to rest. Decoration Days usually happen in May (often around Memorial Day), but they often go later into the summer. Families will gather to clean, place flowers, worship, sing, and eat a meal. For some, this may be a solo family tradition, or they join the church and parade into the cemetery with the congregation, whose arms are filled with flowers. Sometimes these events coincide with a family reunion, so living ancestors can gather to clean and decorate their loved ones’ headstones.
While in the United States, this practice can also be seen across the country in places like Texas, Utah, and Missouri. The Decoration Day celebration is believed to be tied to the Welsh Practice called “Flowering Sunday,” where town members would decorate graves with flowers on Palm Sunday. Other countries have similar practices, such as Mexico’s Day of the Dead, China’s Tomb-Sweeping Festival, and Japan’s Bon Festival.
Liberia celebrates Decoration Day on the second Wednesday in March. It has been a national holiday for the country since 1916. History indicates this practice was in place for many decades before it became a formal holiday.
If you want to read more about Decoration Day, I highly recommend the book by Karen Singer and Alan Jabbour. Their book Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decoration in the Southern Appalachians does a detailed job of explaining the history of the Decoration Day practice.