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Event
Information:
Chicago hosts it's annual Memorial
Day Parade to honour veterans,
active duty military personnel, and
those who have given their lives in
service of their country. It draws
about 10,000 spectators each year
and is considered one of the largest
parades of its kind in the country.
The parade starts at 12:00 pm and
proceeds south on State Street from
Lake Street to Van Buren Street.
Many
Americans observe Memorial Day by
visiting cemeteries and memorials. A
national moment of remembrance takes
place at 3 p.m. local time. Another
tradition is to fly the flag of the
United States at half-staff from
dawn until noon local time. One of
the longest-standing traditions is
the running of the Indianapolis 500,
an auto race which has been held in
conjunction with Memorial Day since
1911. It runs on the Sunday
preceding the Memorial Day holiday.
The Coca-Cola 600 stock car race has
been held later the same day since
1961. The Memorial Tournament golf
event has been held on or close to
the Memorial Day weekend since
1976.Matthew Dennis, Red, White, and
Blue Letter Days: An American
Calendar (2002).
Sociologists, following the lead of
Robert Bellah, often make the
argument that America has a secular
"civil religion" – one with no
association with any religious
denomination or viewpoint – that has
incorporated Memorial Day as a
sacred event. Our American tradition
includes an obligation to honor the
sacrifices made by our nation to
earn our freedom. With the Civil
War, a new theme of death, sacrifice
and rebirth enters the civil
religion. Memorial Day gave ritual
expression to these themes,
integrating the local community into
a sense of nationalism. The American
civil religion in contrast to that
of France was never anticlerical or
militantly secular; in contrast to
Britain it was not tied to a
specific denomination like the
Church of England. Instead the
Americans borrowed selectively from
different religious traditions in
such a way that the average American
saw no conflict between the two,
thus mobilizing deep levels of
personal motivation for the
attainment of national goals
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