Editing Memorial Day (section)

== Related traditions ==
=== Decoration Day (tradition) ===
{{Main|Decoration Day (tradition)}}

Decoration Days in Southern [[Appalachia]] and [[Liberia]] are a tradition which arose by the 19th century. Decoration practices are localized and unique to individual families, cemeteries, and communities, but common elements that unify the various Decoration Day practices are thought to represent [[syncretism]] of predominantly Christian cultures in 19th century Southern Appalachia with pre-Christian influences from Scotland, Ireland, and African cultures. Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions are thought to have more in common with one another than with United States Memorial Day traditions which are focused on honoring the military dead.<ref name="jabbourblog">{{cite web |last=Jabbour |first=Alan |title=What is Decoration Day? |url=https://uncpressblog.com/2010/05/27/what-is-decoration-day/ |website=University of North Carolina Blog |access-date=May 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522202026/https://uncpressblog.com/2010/05/27/what-is-decoration-day/ |archive-date=May 22, 2013 |date=May 27, 2010 }}</ref> Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions pre-date the United States Memorial Day holiday.<ref>{{cite web |title=Decoration Day |url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2316 |website=Encyclopedia of Alabama |access-date=May 31, 2019 |ref=encyclopedia-alabama |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006044219/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2316 |archive-date=October 6, 2018 }}</ref>

According to scholars Alan and Karen Jabbour, "the geographic spread ... from the Smokies to northeastern Texas and Liberia, offer strong evidence that the southern Decoration Day originated well back in the nineteenth century. The presence of the same cultural tradition throughout the Upland South argues for the age of the tradition, which was carried westward (and eastward to Africa) by nineteenth-century migration and has survived in essentially the same form till the present."<ref name="JabbourJabbour2010" />

While these customs may have inspired in part rituals to honor military dead like Memorial Day, numerous differences exist between Decoration Day customs and Memorial Day, including that the date is set differently by each family or church for each cemetery to coordinate the maintenance, social, and spiritual aspects of decoration.<ref name="jabbourblog" /><ref name="hooker">{{cite book |last=Hooker |first=Elizabeth R. |date=1933 |title=Religion in the Highlands: Native Churches and Missionary Enterprises in the Southern Appalachian Area |publisher=Home Mission Council |location=New York |page=125 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012328160 |access-date=September 6, 2019 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224213341/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012328160 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Meyer |first=Richard E. |title=American Folklore: An Encyclopedia – Cemeteries |pages=132–34 |isbn= }}{{ISBN missing}}</ref>