DECORATION DAY: Memorial Day was historically known as “Decoration Day.” To honor the deceased, soldiers would decorate graves of their fallen comrades with flowers, flags and wreaths. Hence Decoration Day. Although Memorial Day became its official title in the 1880s, the holiday wouldn’t legally become Memorial Day until 1967.

After the Civil War, General John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, called for a holiday commemorating fallen soldiers to be observed every May 30. But due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which took effect in 1971, Memorial Day was moved to the last Monday of May to ensure long weekends.

James A. Garfield, then a Civil War General and Republican Congressman, not yet a President, addressed the several thousand people gathered at Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868 .

“If silence is ever golden,” Garfield said, “it must be beside the graves of 15,000 men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem the music of which can never be sung.”

One suggestion for area residents is to recognize veterans by decorating a grave or providing needed TLC like weeding. It may also be a worthwhile process to learn about that veteran as well, to know their story and remember their sacrifice.

Also, it is important to note that in December 2000, Congress passed a law requiring Americans to pause at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day to remember and honor the fallen. But this doesn’t appear to be common knowledge. This year might be a good year to set an alarm or make note and take that moment at 3 p.m. to remember.

The origins of the holiday are a bit murky. According to the town’s website, in 1966 Congress unanimously passed a resolution to officially recognize Waterloo, NY, as the birthplace of the holiday. However, it remains a contentious debate, with other towns, like Boalsburg, claiming the title of “Birthplace of Memorial Day” as well.