Memorial Day Weekend

Some members (and many guests) assume that closing the temple on Memorial Day weekend is so we can enjoy the holiday weekend with family and friends.

In fact, although the temple door is closed and locked, we’re open for the business of expressing our gratitude—particularly for those who have gone before us, making our temple and our very lives possible.  We’ve just moved ourselves to a nearby cemetery and mortuary where many of our original pioneer members are interred.  Most Shin Buddhist Temples in America take the opportunity of Memorial Day weekend to memorialize our past members with a graveside service – a chant and a short dharma message usually – and we have been doing so since our founding.

If parades are the secular and civic way to celebrate Memorial Day, this graveside service is our tradition’s way of celebrating and honoring our past.

Buddhists consider memorial services to be a significant occasion to remember their deceased with feelings of gratitude and love.  It is not held for the sake of the deceased but for the living.  We have many opportunities for these family memorial services (hoji), as well as temple-wide opportunities at Obon and, in some temples, in monthly memorials (shotsuki hoyo).   Our Memorial Day weekend service is not like our family memorials, but it’s a wonderful way to practice gratitude and remembering during an American holiday celebrating those virtues.