May 31 - Memorial Day in the U.S. AND Castille-La Mancha Day in Spain

Posted on May 31, 2021

Key Points

This is an update of my post published on May 31, 2010:

Memorial Day in the U.S. is a day to honor men and women who have died in the military services.

Memorial Day got its start immediately after the Civil War in 1865. In Charleston, South Carolina, there was a racecourse that had been used by the Confederate army to imprison captured Union soldiers – and it was also used as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died there. As soon as the war was over, a group of formerly enslaved people took it upon themselves to dig up the Union soldiers’ bodies from the mass grave and to rebury them in more dignified individual graves with markers. It was hard work, and undoubtedly disgusting, but they got the task done in just 10 days—including building a 10-foot-tall fence around the new Union graveyard.

On May 1, 1865, about ten thousand people (mostly Black residents) came to the graveyard to form a parade, listen to sermons, and sing together – all in honor of the fallen soldiers.

Other folks in other towns started their own traditions of having a particular day to honor those who died in the Civil War. Women in Columbus, Mississippi, probably didn’t know about the Charlestown event when they decorated graves in April of 1866. General John A. Logan might not have known about either of these events when he urged people to decorate the graves of Union soldiers on May 30, 1968. Logan’s effort was more widespread – not focused on just one town – and he went on to asking Congress to make Decoration Day (as it was then called) a legal holiday.

Eventually Congress did recognize Decoration / Memorial Day, and after World War I the category of honorees was broadened to include all who die in the military services.

Castille-La Mancha Day in Spain is a regional holiday. I mentioned in an earlier post that Spain is largely divided into semi-autonomous regions, and this is one of them. The largest city in this region is Toledo, but the area is probably best known as the setting for the famous novel Don Quixote. According to Wikipedia, the area is also known for its sunflowers, olive yards, and windmills.

The people of Castille-La Mancha celebrate the day with sporting events, art shows, musical performances, local movie showings, taste-testing and wine-tasting, and presentations about local scientists. Very cool!

Celebrate the Day’s Holidays!

Here is a jigsaw puzzle of a Memorial Day scene.

Do you want to try a new game? A teacher named Carlos Velazquez, of Spain, has gathered together many “street games” that kids play in Spain.

Here is a simplified version of the story of Don Quixote.

Many towns and cities have a local memorial (or two) that is dedicated to those who gave up their life doing military service. Can you find out if yours does? Visit it today.

Here is a quick tour through Castille-La Mancha.

I loved this feature of the Toledo Cathedral – a breakthrough spot on the cathedral ceiling, through which you can see a higher, brighter, more heavenly spot.
Note the ring of angels and others surrounding the hole, which is called
El Transparente.

There is an extensive amount of stuff on the web about war and peace and memorials. Here is one website that gathers together some of those resources.