May 27, 2015
Memories of Memorial Day
By Eloise Graham
Editor-in-Chief
Memorial Day 2015 will be Monday, May 25th. Last year it was Monday, May 26 and next year it will be Monday, May 30. Do you remember when it was always May 30th, no matter what day of the week it was?
The National Holiday Act of 1971 changed Memorial Day from May 30th to the last Monday of the month. This would ensure a three-day weekend for Federal employees. However, some Southern states have a separate day to honor the Confederate war dead: January 19th in Texas; April 26th for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10th in South Carolina; and June 3rd in Louisiana and Tennessee.
Common May observances include:
May Day, May 1st
Kentucky Derby, first Saturday of May
Mothers’ Day, second Sunday in May
Indy 500 race, Saturday before Memorial Day
Memorial Day, the last Monday in May.
Here are some less know celebration days.
For the animal kingdom, there is:
National Sea Monkey Day; Save the Rhino Day; Mother Goose Day; Oyster Day; Frog Jumping Day; Dance Like a Chicken Day and National Escargot Day.
Are you into food? Well, there is:
National Hoagie Day; Beverage Day; No Diet Day; Eat What you Want Day; National Candied Orange Peel Day; National Chocolate Chip Day and National Macaroon Day.
Emphasis on health celebrations can include:
Save Your Hearing Day; Sun Screen Day; International Nurses Day; School Nurses Day; National Nurses Day and World No Tobacco Day.
Here are some whimsical ones: Water a Flower Day; Tap Dance Day; Lucky Penny Day; Pick Strawberries Day; Be a Millionaire Day; No Socks Day; Pack Rat Day and Love a Tree Day.
You can celebrate just about anything in the month of May!
May’s Birthstone is the Emerald and the flower is Lily of the Valley.
If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? Pilgrams
