Memorial Day Weekend 2024: Events Around Burlington

Burlington’s upcoming Memorial Day ceremony honors military personnel who have lost their lives in service to their country.

May 20, 2024 10:43 AM EDT

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington’s upcoming Memorial Day Parade is part of a nearly 160-year-old tradition that pays tribute to military personnel who have lost their lives in service to their country.

The ceremony in Burlington is the culmination of the three-day Memorial Day weekend – May 25-27 this year.

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Burlington will host a Memorial Day ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday at the Chestnut Hill Cemetery Veterans Section. The placement of the flag at the veterans’ graves will take place on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. More information is available here.

The Reading Memorial Day Parade begins at 9:00 a.m. Monday. The parade starts at the American Legion on Ash Street. It will be followed by services at local cemeteries. More information is available here.

Tewksbury will host a Memorial Day ceremony and parade. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday and the parade will follow at 11 a.m. More information is available here.

As the observance has changed over the years, many families also use Memorial Day as an opportunity to visit Burlington cemeteries and leave flowers at the graves of family members, regardless of whether they served in the military.

The history of Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, dates back to 1868, when General John A. Logan called for a day of remembrance to honor the Northern lives lost during the fighting during the Civil War that had ended just a few years earlier, according to History .com. As time went on, more and more people called it Memorial Day, and it became a federal holiday in 1971.

Waterloo, New York is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day. The town’s observance on May 5, 1866 preceded Logan’s call for a day of remembrance. Local businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags.

Until World War I, the holiday honored only those soldiers who died while fighting for the Union in the war, as southern states honored their war dead on a separate day. After the more than 116,000 American deaths in World War I, the tradition changed to remember all those who died in military service.

Each year, a national moment of remembrance is held at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. No matter where they are or what they are doing, Americans are being asked to observe a moment of silence to remember military personnel who have given their lives in service to their country. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, noon was chosen because it is a time when many Americans will enjoy their freedoms on a national holiday.