An episode of The Alabama Experience documentary series
This program would be appropriate for social studies, history or religion classes. It would especially useful in social studies units on regional traditions.
Decoration days and homecomings are similar church and social traditions that have been a part of the rural South since the first churches and cemeteries were built here. Each church or community chooses a specific Sunday to serve every year as decoration day or homecoming. Then, on the same summer day every year, homefolks return to their birthplace for a day of picnics, singing and socializing. While it's not certain how these customs began, it is believed that they are a blending of the European, African-American and Native American influences that form the culture of the South. Decoration Day is particularly indigenous to the Deep South.
Gather Unto Thy People provides students with a unique opportunity to visit four different church services to learn about this important family and community holiday. Students will learn why many people of all ages and backgrounds find it important to understand and experience their spiritual and social roots in the South. They will also learn ways they can find out about their own families by visiting a cemetery.
Before playing the tape, ask your students to look for the answers to these questions as they watch the program, and to be ready for discussion after viewing.
1. How did the tradition of decoration day begin? (It is not clear how the tradition specifically started, but rather it is considered a custom that blends practices from several cultures into a functional tradition of maintaining the landscape of the graveyard and socializing with relatives and friends.)
2. Why were these celebrations originally held in the early Summer? (Because flowers for making the cemetery arrangements were plentiful in the Spring and Summer, and dirt roads became passable only after the Spring rains.) Why do they continue to be held in at this time of year? (Some remain around Mother's Day and Memorial Day, presumably because these are holidays of remembrance. Others suggest it is simply easier in modern times for people to take vacations that allow them to attend in Summer.)
3. What activities might take place during the Saturday "clean up" day? (Graves are cleaned and weeded; families bring picnics and visit with friends; relatives bring flowers to place on the graves of ancestors.) On Sunday? (Church services; "all-day singings"; picnic lunches; family/church reunions)
4. Name some things you can tell about a community by visiting the cemetery. (By reading the names and dates on the headstones, you can determine family groupings, you can determine if the cemetery/community was racially segregated and at what time, etc.)
5. What unusual material is sometimes still used to cover gravesites? (white sand)
6. What reasons do people give for wanting to participate in this tradition? (It helps them learn about their family and community; they feel a spiritual connection to God and their ancestors; they find a peaceful feeling in returning to the place they were born, etc.)
-"Decoration Day": a church or community holiday, found primarily in the South, where families gather to attend to family burial plots, visit with friends, and/or attend church services.
-"Homecoming": a church holiday, sometimes marking the church's anniversary, in which present and former church members gather to visit with relatives and neighbors in the context of a church service. (Some churches observe decoration day on the same Sunday.)
-forebears: relatives from whom one is descended; ancestors.
-stratigraphy: the arrangement of a historical or sociological series representing a period or a stage of development. The groupings of graves in a cemetery is a kind of stratigraphy.
-spirituality: sensitivity or attachment to religious values.
The program runs 26 minutes, 40 seconds, but may be broken in to four parts. Each segment visits one church's observance. While each church visit is unique, should time be limited any one of the segments could serve to represent this tradition. The program may be segmented by stopping at the following times:
: Bivens Chapel Methodist Church. Visits church Saturday and Sunday, and emphasizes learning about family members through visiting the cemetery. Outcue: "...and laugh and have a good time." (8:26)
: Mt. Zion Freewill Baptist Church. Visits church Saturday and Sunday. Particular attention to oldest tradition of cleaning, sanding and mounding the graves prior to the Sunday service. Emphasis on participants' spiritual connection to observance. Outcue: "...in love with their church and their community." (14:48)
: Cathamagby Baptist Church. Visits church on Sunday. Discussion of tradition as one that may be dying as people become more individualized. Outcue: "...the way it used to be." (19:37)
: Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church. Visits church on Sunday. Large gathering of people from all across the United States. Shiloh is an example of the tradition's remaining strength in the South. Also mention of African-Americans learning their family's own slave history through this event. Outcue: "...another time of gathering." (25:27; End of program.)
Produced by The University of Alabama Center for Public Television & Radio.
For additional information about using these materials in your classroom, call Alabama Public Television Educational Services 1-800-239-5233
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