I, too, remember and participated in Decoration Day. I felt honored to get to go with my dad to take care of the family graves, he with a shovel removing the sagebrush and dry grass, rounding up the dirt of two earlier generations of families members -soldiers among them. In the one year when tulips didn't freeze in our mountain Wyoming valley, he took some and put one white and one red on his grandmothers' graves - I wish I remember which went to whom. Our aunts would come from faraway towns to decorate the graves, always taking the lilacs out of the fronts of the bushes, not in unseen spots. My mother wished they wouldn't disfigure the bushes.
Thanks for the reminder of other eras of remembering! And now I need some ginger snaps, too. The kind I had growing up was in a yellow box, maybe Nabisco? But I’m inclined to make some, of course.
The lines about breaking bread and picnicking struck me because they reminded me of the history of Graceland and other rural cemeteries. Since public parks didn’t yet exist, rural cemeteries were the only places for people to go to recreate. They picnicked, had carriage and foot races, and played other games there. Given the solemnity of a cemetery, these activities celebrating life seem out of place but they certainly point to the roles they fulfilled.
I used to love Ginger Snaps. Haven’t thought about them in a long time.
Ok, i need to know how you make gingersnap gravy for Sauerbraten — my favourite dish as a child for my birthday was my grandmother’s Sauerbraten! But this sounds fantastic!
I well remember, years in the Deep South, cleaning and tidying ancestral gravesites and then picnicking nearby. Deviled eggs and sandwiches cut in triangles with the crusts trimmed away and sweet tea in Mason jars. Sometimes fried chicken and potato salad. A blanket used just for this occasion. Lots of stories.
I like the idea of continuing food rituals with a cemetery picnic! I hope I can find Stauffer's Ginger Snaps locally. And as for your sandwich...!!! ❤️
My FIL introduced me to the ginger snap and lemon curd combo -- so delicious! My mother's side of the family thought anything was better with cream cheese, so ginger snaps and cream cheese was a favorite of ours. But on a serious note, thank you for the history of this solemn holiday.
This why YOU and TTK are my favorite place on the internet…you always know how to bring the past and its gifts forward with us….and you always make me miss my grandma, too❤️❤️❤️
Cemetery picnics are a wonderful tradition. Too bad it’s fallen away. In Italy, families visit cemeteries on Nov. 2, Day of the Dead, to clean up the graves and spend time communing with the departed. There’s a cookie in Italian Cookies called pan di mort (bread of the dead) which is one version of several traditional sweets that people would bring with them on these excursions to “break bread” with the dead.
And my mother made a brisket with a ginger snap gravy, and now you have me craving THAT, Jolene! Wonderful article.
Gonna need that recipe!
That sounds amazing!
Sauerbraten!
I, too, remember and participated in Decoration Day. I felt honored to get to go with my dad to take care of the family graves, he with a shovel removing the sagebrush and dry grass, rounding up the dirt of two earlier generations of families members -soldiers among them. In the one year when tulips didn't freeze in our mountain Wyoming valley, he took some and put one white and one red on his grandmothers' graves - I wish I remember which went to whom. Our aunts would come from faraway towns to decorate the graves, always taking the lilacs out of the fronts of the bushes, not in unseen spots. My mother wished they wouldn't disfigure the bushes.
Roast beef sandwiches, gingersnaps and sauerbraten--all very yummy memories.
Wishing you a very memorable Memorial (aka Decoration) Day, Jolene.🤗
Yummmmmm…… gingersnaps!
I’ve made pie crusts with those gingersnaps.
Thanks for the reminder of other eras of remembering! And now I need some ginger snaps, too. The kind I had growing up was in a yellow box, maybe Nabisco? But I’m inclined to make some, of course.
You can still find those!
The lines about breaking bread and picnicking struck me because they reminded me of the history of Graceland and other rural cemeteries. Since public parks didn’t yet exist, rural cemeteries were the only places for people to go to recreate. They picnicked, had carriage and foot races, and played other games there. Given the solemnity of a cemetery, these activities celebrating life seem out of place but they certainly point to the roles they fulfilled.
I used to love Ginger Snaps. Haven’t thought about them in a long time.
I'm fascinated by the ginger snap gravy and who on earth first thought that they would make gravy with ginger snaps! A great read as always, Jolene.
Ok, i need to know how you make gingersnap gravy for Sauerbraten — my favourite dish as a child for my birthday was my grandmother’s Sauerbraten! But this sounds fantastic!
I well remember, years in the Deep South, cleaning and tidying ancestral gravesites and then picnicking nearby. Deviled eggs and sandwiches cut in triangles with the crusts trimmed away and sweet tea in Mason jars. Sometimes fried chicken and potato salad. A blanket used just for this occasion. Lots of stories.
In Flanders Fields
BY JOHN MCCRAE
SHARE
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
I like the idea of continuing food rituals with a cemetery picnic! I hope I can find Stauffer's Ginger Snaps locally. And as for your sandwich...!!! ❤️
Thank you for this wonderful and poignant mini-history lesson. And hope you enjoy a roast beef sandwich and ginger snaps today too 😊
gingersnap gravy? I want to know more!
My FIL introduced me to the ginger snap and lemon curd combo -- so delicious! My mother's side of the family thought anything was better with cream cheese, so ginger snaps and cream cheese was a favorite of ours. But on a serious note, thank you for the history of this solemn holiday.
This why YOU and TTK are my favorite place on the internet…you always know how to bring the past and its gifts forward with us….and you always make me miss my grandma, too❤️❤️❤️
Cemetery picnics are a wonderful tradition. Too bad it’s fallen away. In Italy, families visit cemeteries on Nov. 2, Day of the Dead, to clean up the graves and spend time communing with the departed. There’s a cookie in Italian Cookies called pan di mort (bread of the dead) which is one version of several traditional sweets that people would bring with them on these excursions to “break bread” with the dead.