Memorial days around the world

G

Guitarist

Senior Member
Do other countries have anything like the Memorial Day observed in the US?

I know about Remembrance Day, the US observes it too, calling it Armistice Day up until it was combined with Veterans Day.

Just wondering what other countries do.
 

We observe ANZAC DAY (Australia,New Zealand Army Corps), on the 25th April, with dawn & mid morn Memorial parades. Business' stays closed until 1pm.
 

Laurie said:
What is Memorial Day? I've heard of it, like Labor Day but have no idea what either of them are about.
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Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces.

Labour Day
noun
Labor Day

  • a public holiday or day of festivities held in honour of working people, in many countries on 1 May, in the US and Canada on the first Monday in September.


 
As a child, I can remember it also being called "Decoration Day." A day when everyone would display the flag. I still go up to the cemetery where my Dad is buried in the Veteran's Section and the local honor guard says prayers plays taps, and places a flag on every Vet's grave. This Monday, it is being done at 10:00 a.m. as it is during most years.
 
Ameriscot said:
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces.

Labour Day
noun
Labor Day

  • a public holiday or day of festivities held in honour of working people, in many countries on 1 May, in the US and Canada on the first Monday in September.
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Ah! Armistice Day and May Day then.

May Day, as an actual holiday not just a festival, is quite new for us (1978).

Quite why we decided, in the late 20th century, to start celebrating the Bolshevik revolution which resulted in the brutal murder of several of the Queen's relatives has never been satisfactorily explained!
 
Well, in the US Armistice Day was established to observe the end of World War I ("the war to end all wars.") I grew up knowing about the significance and solemnity of "the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month," and flags were flown at half-staff that day. November 11th. Some decades ago, after WWII, Armistice Day was combined with Veterans Day and now is observed as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all US wars. For a few years Veterans Day was in October, but then was combined with Armistice Day and called Veterans Day for both world wars and later I think it included the veterans of Korea and Vietnam.

Memorial Day is specifically to honor veterans who died in wars. When I was a child in the South there was Confederate Memorial Day, that was before the Centennial of the Civil War. That was in late April; the end-of-May holiday was "National Memorial Day." I haven't heard mention of Confederate Memorial Day in ages; maybe it is still observed, all I know is that way back in the 1960s we suddenly weren't allowed to play "Dixie" anymore in band, so maybe Confederate Memorial Day went the way of the song.

Does Remembrance Day in the UK honor all veterans, living as well as dead? Just wondering.
 
"Does Remembrance Day in the UK honor all veterans, living as well as dead? Just wondering."

To a certain degree, but we tend to use Armed Forces Day for that.
 

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