Every year on the last Monday in May, the United States honors its war dead.

It's often celebrated with parades, cookouts, and ceremonies at military cemeteries.

While many people think of it as just a three-day weekend in the beginning of summer,

it is a tradition that extends

back over 160 years. Learn more about Memorial Day, how it got started and how it

celebrated on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by audible.com. My audiobook recommendation today is

on hallowed ground the story of Arlington and Pool

more than just a fascinating account of how Arlington came into being at the end of the Civil War.

On Hallowed Ground also tells the story of America,

as reflected in her greatest national cemetery.

The history of the land on which the cemetery is built is as varied as our nations,

evolving from its earliest days as Robert E. Lee's ancestral home to a union headquarters, a haven for freedmen, and finally a burial ground.

Robert Poole also shows how the landscape of Arlington changed along with our democracy.

You can get a free one month trial to audible and two free

audio books by going to audible trial.com slash everything everywhere or by

clicking on the link in the show notes. Once again that's Audible Trial.com slash everything everywhere.

The holiday of Memorial Day is a uniquely American holiday. While most countries have a day that honors

or war dead, having such a day at the end of May is unique to the United States. Not surprisingly,

the roots of Memorial Day go back to the U.S US Civil War. It began with decorating the graves of fallen soldiers.

This is certainly not an American practice. It's been done for hundreds, if not thousands of years, all over the world.

The practice of grave

decoration was being done in the South even before the war had ended. Women would

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