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Decoration Day
Back in the "olden days,"
Memorial Day was called Decoration Day ~ at least in our neck of the
woods. Mother really went all out in seeing that family graves were
decorated. Weeks before Decoration Day ~ always on May 30th, no matter
what day of the week it was ~ she bought oodles of crepe paper and wire
for making flowers and wreaths. Back then, crepe paper came in a size
similar to that of tissue today except that it was several feet long.
Mother taught Lena and me how to cut out shapes for petals and leaves.
We cut multiples of them and then carefully took them apart. They were
then stretched in a certain way that made them look like actual petals
and leaves.
Once we did all our cutting,
the fun started. First, a wire was cut to the length of the stem of the
flower then a "bud" or middle was put on the end of the wire. After
that, we started building the flower one petal at a time. When the
flower ~ usually a rose ~ was the size we wanted, the bottoms of the
petals were wired and we covered the stem in green paper adding leaves
as we went down the stem. We also made rosebuds and several other
flowers. I still remember getting that ink from the crepe paper all
over my hands. It was painstaking work but we never tired of it. In
addition to single long-stem flowers, we also made wreaths.
The forms for our wreaths
were wire clothes hangers that we made into circles. They usually
looked a little cygoglin but the flowers covered any flaws. The next
step was the waxing. We melted paraffin wax in the top of the double
boiler. When it got just right ~ Mother knew when ~ the head of the
flower was quickly dipped in the hot wax, the excess shaken off and the
flower put in a mason jar to dry. In no time at all, we had flowers
almost everywhere! Wax was melted in a huge kettle for dipping the
wreaths and other large arrangements. Lena and I used to let some of
the wax get on the first joints of our fingers and had fun trying to
pull a wax impression off in one piece. I don't know if he will admit
it or not, but Junior made some nice flowers too.
When Mother couldn't get to
Kermit to decorate the graves of her family, we mailed huge boxes of
our homemade flowers and wreaths to them and they placed them on the
graves come Decoration Day. They could afford real flower arrangements
but I think ours were just as pretty.
No, they weren't expensive
but our flowers and wreaths were true labors of love. When we went to
decorate the graves, the fresh arrangements from the previous year were
dead but our little waxed, crepe paper flowers still looked pretty
good. As I grew older, I couldn't see the use in decorating graves ~
and still can't ~ but respect those who do. I still stand by the old
saying of giving me flowers while I can enjoy them. Mother loved doing
it and we loved helping her because she was our Mother!
Junior and Jason have cared
for our parents' graves for many years and I really appreciate their
efforts. I know that it is their labor of love.
Virginia always gets Faye to make beautiful flowers and Junior takes
pictures after the clean-up and decorating is done. Junior told me that
Asa is going with him this year and I know it's his way of seeing that
the tradition is carried on after he's gone. Fine man, that brother of
mine. Comes from hardy stock!
Kathleen
McCoy Eldridge
©2005
All Rights Reserved
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"Till We Meet Again"
Sequenced by Frank "Grandpa" Schober
Used with Permission
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