Orthodox Reflections

By Walt Garlington, an Orthodox Christian living in Dixieland.  His writings have appeared on several web sites, and he maintains a site of his own, Confiteri: A Southern Perspective.

This Memorial Day we will hear the high-sounding phrases we have heard in the past, that we are stopping the normal routine of life to honor all the US soldiers who have died fighting in wars.  However, when one looks at how the peoples of the States will actually be spending the Memorial Day holiday, the honoring of fallen soldiers is about the furthest thing from the minds of very many of them.

Grieving parents at a cemetery mourning their son, and if they are Orthodox or Roman Catholic, no doubt praying for his soul. 

The news stories about Memorial Day reveal where their focus and interests lie.

First, hitting the road.  This is one of the most common stories one runs across, how many millions will be driving, flying, etc., to some faraway locale:

AAA projects 45.1 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home over the Memorial Day holiday period* from Thursday, May 22 to Monday, May 26. This year’s domestic travel forecast is an increase of 1.4 million travelers compared to last year and sets a new Memorial Day weekend record. The previous record was set back in 2005 with 44 million people. Despite concerns over rising prices, many Americans say they’re taking advantage of the long holiday weekend to spend time with loved ones, even if the trips are closer to home.

“Memorial Day weekend getaways don’t have to be extravagant and costly,” said Stacey Barber, Vice President of AAA Travel. “While some travelers embark on dream vacations and fly hundreds of miles across the country, many families just pack up the car and drive to the beach or take a road trip to visit friends. Long holiday weekends are ideal for travel because many people have an extra day off work and students are off from school.”

Second, movies.  After travelling, the focus is often on the rollout of Hollywood’s summer blockbusters, and this year’s selections are bigger and more Trumptastic than ever:

The Memorial Day box office is on fire.

Disney’s live-action redo of Lilo & Stitch and Tom Cruise’s final Mission: Impossible movie, from Paramount and Skydance, fueled the biggest start-of-summer holiday weekend of all time, based on Sunday estimates. Lilo & Stitch blew away all expectations with a record-smashing, four-day domestic debut of $183 million, and a jaw-dropping $341.7 million globally, while Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning opened to a series-best $77 million domestically and $190 million worldwide. The domestic numbers includes a three-day weekend tally of $145.5 million for Lilo, and $63 million for Final Reckoning.

Third, spending money.  Consumerism is the final piece that completes the Memorial Day celebrations:

While Memorial Day sales tend to be focused on big-ticket purchases like furniture and appliances, the top category consumers say they’ll shop is food/beverage, which correlates with hosting – and a high likelihood of shopping at grocery and big box stores. Eating at a restaurant or bar came in second, and clothing purchases in third, which tracks with Memorial Day serving as the gateway to summer (and a weekend for summer prep).

Top Memorial Day weekend purchases:

• • • • • Food/beverages for a cookout, 34%
        • Eating out at a restaurant or bar, 19%
        • Clothing, including shoes and accessories, 17%
        • Home improvement and gardening, 17%
        • American flags or patriotic decorations, 15%
        • Home goods/décor (e.g., plates, pillows, art), 13%
        • Party decorations and serving ware, 10%
        • Electronics (e.g., laptop, smartphone, smart watch), 10%
        • Pool or beach gear (e.g., swimsuits, towels, floats), 10%
        • Tickets to an event or festival, 10%

Our survey also revealed that more shoppers are planning to shop Memorial Day weekend sales this year, with 36% (up 18% vs. 2024) of consumers planning to shop the sales and spend an average of $289 (-$8 vs 2024).

Typical Memorial Day street party in a city neighborhood in America. Not a lot of prayers for the fallen going on here. 

To sum up:  For the average person in the United States the meaning of Memorial Day is travelling to a strange new place to which he has no roots so he can watch a Mission: Impossible movie marathon on one screen while buying an IKEA couch on another and taking a bite out of a brontosaurus-sized burger smothered in bacon and sausage besides.

Voilà!  Holiday perfection!

With such misguided goals that are bereft of any meaningful spiritual aspects, it is no wonder that many in the States have mixed feelings about Memorial Day:

Memorial Day 2025 is almost here, and while Americans are firing up the grill, many are also tightening their wallets and rethinking what the holiday truly represents. A new poll from marketing research firm Savanta reveals that while Americans are holding on to familiar traditions, like cookouts and spending time with family, many are also feeling the strain of tighter budgets and expressing a desire to reconnect with the holiday’s true purpose.

Is Memorial Day Losing Its Meaning?

Americans are reflecting on the meaning behind the holiday:

• • • • • 52% say Memorial Day has lost its original meaning
        • Yet, 60% still associate it with honoring fallen military members, and 40% say they’re excited to honor its meaning this year
        • 62% believe the holiday brings people together, regardless of background or beliefs

Meaning Shifts Across Ages and Regions

While 60% of Americans overall associate the holiday with remembrance, that connection isn’t equally strong across all groups:

• • • • • Just 48% of Gen Z (ages 18-27) say remembrance is their primary association, while
        • 76% of Boomers (ages 60+) say honoring fallen soldiers is the reason for the day

Regionally, Americans in the South (63%) are most likely to associate Memorial Day with remembrance, while those in the Northeast (48%) are the least likely.

“Like many traditions, Memorial Day is evolving. But even as interpretations shift, most Americans still want to feel that it stands for something real,” said Mahima Yadav, Savanta research analyst. “It’s not just about how we spend the weekend. It’s about how we honor what connects us.”

It is fitting that Memorial Day still has the greatest resonance amongst Southerners, for it is in Dixie that this holiday had its birth.  Brion McClanahan writes at the Abbeville Institute:

Many Americans will pause today to honor the men and women who have given their lives in the United States armed forces. What most probably don’t know is that this holiday originated in the South after the War for Southern Independence. It was originally called “Decoration Day.”

 . . . The women who held the first “Decoration Day” in Columbus, Georgia in 1866 did so to honor the dozens of Confederate soldiers buried in Linwood Cemetery. This was soon replicated across the South. The Grand Army of the Republic copied the event in 1868, causing another Southern innovation to be coopted by Yankee do-gooders.

American soon honored Confederate dead as part of “Memorial Day” events, including those like President William McKinley who wore the blue.

Southerners eventually decided to hold separate “memorial day” remembrances in April as part of “Confederate Memorial Day.” They wanted as a people to reflect on the cost of war.

Reflection is not something contemporary America is very good at.  It is, in fact, something quite discouraged by the heretical ‘American creed’ of unending Material Progress, that sees any stable tradition or collection of memories as an impediment to a more efficient, more profitable economic system.

With the States being stuck in such a fetid ditch, the Orthodox Church offers much of value that can help them escape from it.  For she does have a very deep memory and, having the full Mind of Christ that the Roman Catholics and Protestants have rejected, she teaches us how we can truly honor and help our departed soldiers.  Here, for instance, are details on one of Russia’s major memorial services, for the soldiers who fell at the Battle of Kulikovo:

Saint Demetrius of the Don smashed the military might of the Golden Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo Field on September 8, 1380 (the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos), set between the Rivers Don and Nepryadva. The Battle of Kulikovo, for which the nation calls him Demetrius of the Don, became the first Russian national deed, rallying the spiritual power of the Russian nation around Moscow. The “Zadonschina,” an inspiring historic poem written by the priest Sophronius of Ryazem (1381), is devoted to this event.

Prince Demetrius of the Don was greatly devoted to the holy Great Martyr Demetrius. In 1380, on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo, he solemnly transferred from Vladimir to Moscow the most holy object in the Dimitriev cathedral of Vladimir: the icon of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, painted on a piece of wood from the saint’s grave. A chapel in honor of the Great Martyr Demetrius was built at Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral.

The Saint Demetrius Memorial Saturday was established for the churchwide remembrance of the soldiers who fell in the Battle of Kulikovo. This memorial service was held for the first time at the Trinity-Saint Sergius monastery on October 20, 1380 by Saint Sergius of Radonezh, in the presence of Great Prince Demetrius of the Don. It is an annual remembrance of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, among whom are the schemamonks Alexander (Peresvet) and Andrew (Oslyab).

It is striking that Russia has been able to keep this memorial day very much alive in her culture for nearly seven hundred years, but the States haven’t been able to keep a serious commemoration of our war dead for even two hundred.

Serbia’s remembrance of the Battle of Kosovo (1389) should also be mentioned.  It also continues to throb with vitality after more than six centuries.

But even remembering and honoring the valor and self-sacrifice of the dead isn’t enough.  Since many of these men died suddenly, without time to properly prepare for death (without repentance, Confession, receiving the Holy Eucharist, etc.), we ought to pray for the good repose of their souls:  for forgiveness of their sins, for the healing of spiritual scars that had not yet healed when they died, and so on.  The Orthodox Church offers us many hymns that can be used.  Here are a couple of the shorter ones:

Only Creator, with wisdom profound, You mercifully order all things, / and give that which is needed to all men: / Give rest, O Lord, to the souls of Your servants who have fallen asleep, / for they have placed their trust in You, our Maker and Fashioner, and our God.

With the saints give rest, O Christ, to the souls of Your servants, / where there is neither sickness nor sorrow, and no more sighing, / but life everlasting.

And there is more we can do for them, like giving alms in their name and having Divine Liturgies served for them.  But any of this being done hinges on the spiritual direction and health of folks in the US.  But that thought only leaves us with a rather gloomy conclusion.

The 50 States have been wandering through a dark wilderness for decades.  It is possible they will find their way out of it.  But when societies have reached the stage of nihilistic materialism that the States have, as illustrated by their degenerate Memorial Day celebrations, when their historical memory runs only as deep as nostalgia for animated Disney movies like Lilo & Stitch, a collapse seems imminent.  The Trump years will probably be the final dying gasp of the United States as we have known them since their brutal transformation into a forced union as a result of President Lincoln’s unjust and unnecessary war.  All the authentic ethnoi of the US, from the long-sought State of Jefferson in northern California to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the once and future Republic of Vermont ought to prepare themselves for the fall of the Yankee Empire.  All the more so should the Orthodox Church, who will be left with the difficult task of bringing a sense of wholeness and stability back to peoples bewildered by the fall of their ‘indispensable nation’.