Memorial Day

Title

Memorial Day

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Drawing - Water Color Markers

Description

This is a drawing/ painting made using watercolor markers. It shows a young woman in a purple dress holding poppies. A digital texture has been added to the image.

Per Wikipedia: Memorial Day or Decoration Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. It marks the unofficial start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

The preferred name for the holiday gradually changed from "Decoration Day" to "Memorial Day," which was first used in 1882. Memorial Day did not become the more common name until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967. On June 28, 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971. After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply, all 50 states adopted Congress' change of date within a few years.

In 1915, following the Second Battle of Ypres, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a physician with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, wrote the poem, "In Flanders Fields". Its opening lines refer to the fields of poppies that grew among the soldiers' graves in Flanders.

In 1918, inspired by the poem, YWCA worker Moina Michael attended a YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference wearing a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed over two dozen more to others present. In 1920, the National American Legion adopted it as their official symbol of remembrance.

Note: The watermark will not appear on the products you purchase.

Featured in the Images That Excite You group, May 2018.

Featured in the Bedroom Art Gallery group, June 2018.

Uploaded

May 27th, 2018

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