Book of Days

Memorial Day––our unofficial start to summer in the United States––is but a week away. Greater than its role of ushering in summer, however, is its status as a day of remembrance, particularly of those who died in service to their country. It is a holiday with a long history, dating back to the Civil War. The 30th of May was chosen as the date of Memorial Day for it was believed that flowers would be in bloom at that time in all corners of the country. Flowers for remembrance.

Go back centuries more and you will find a similar sentiment for this same time of year in Ancient Rome. May was the time of the Floralia, an annual festival honoring the goddess Flora, goddess of flowers and plants. It was, as well, a time of remembering the dead, particularly for the Roman military. And today, the 23rd of May, brought the Rosalia, a day of similar devotion and remembrance, but with a focus on roses. Graves, especially, would be decorated today with roses. Roses for remembrance.

And so today we’d do well to gather rosebuds and to decorate with them, homes and graves. It is a day for both the living and the dead.

Image: “Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May” by John William Waterhouse. Oil on canvas, 1909 [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons. 

In Ancient Rome, this would be the time of the Rosalia, an annual festival in honor of the goddess Flora and the lovely rose, but also of the dead. Rosalia could in fact be celebrated at various times between May and July. But for most Romans May was its primary month and May 23 its usual day. To be sure, the Romans celebrated many festivals honoring Flora, who was a goddess of flowers and plants. These festivals were all in the spring and Rosalia was the last of them each year. The most important tradition associated with Rosalia was the decoration of graves with flowers, typically roses. Even then, roses and other flowers were symbols of rebirth and memory.

As for us, we come to Memorial Day soon (this coming Monday, as it so happens––about the earliest date it can be), a holiday rooted in the remembrance of those who died in service to their country. And so the two holidays, so distant from each other in history and in culture, speak the same language: the language of remembrance, the honoring of those who have passed. It is good and it is right to keep these folks in mind.

Image: Still Life, Roses Against a Blue Curtain by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Oil on canvas, 1908 [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.