America’s Quarter Millennium
The Importance of Appropriate Celebration
My mother was six at the Bicentennial. In conversation, she has often described to me the weight that celebratory year still holds in her memory. In school, she and her classmates received a themed Weekly Reader magazine, which often contained simple articles, puzzles, and crosswords. For the 200th anniversary, the schoolchildren read at their desks about commemorative coins and famous American figures. During “Bicentennial Week”, the leading citizens of her small Arkansas town organized a parade at which flags flew with vigor, bands played patriotically, and marchers strode in step. On Independence Day, extended family traveled from outlying towns and farms, celebrating their heritage together at her house. The men gathered around smokers, preparing the meat and discussing their weeks. The women also caught up, but in the kitchen as they prepared a ‘mess’ of savory Southern sides and sweet desserts. The children played games with raucous delight until it was time to eat. After an evening of feasting, the hearts of all were full of patriotism—pride and joy. When I asked for a succinct recollection of her bicentennial experience at a young age, my mother “remember[s] being impressed that it was such a big deal.”
The child’s experience at holidays is a deep touchstone in the construction of their identity. As an example, one’s fond childhood memories of Christmas often evoke a sense of both longing and belonging. It is fitting that there is a tree with a large star and that the classic festive songs play on repeat, just like how it was in the memories of one’s youth. Indeed, holiday rituals provide a fixed reference to the past and a pattern for imitation in the future, cementing the shared experience of generations of families as they inhabit their home. The Founding Father John Adams established this fixed reference for Americans in regard to Independence Day in a letter to his wife Abigail: “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” Many of his directives for commemoration are immediately recognizable as traditions that have been passed down to each generation from the time of the Founding to the present day.
In modern times, Independence Day traditions are often dismissed as selfish or sophomoric; however, these critiques tend to overlook the true profundity of Adams’ directive. Independence Day celebrations function as a form of civic catechesis, cementing a common memory across generations of Americans. In this sense, Adams’ call for solemnization strikes deeply. Through participation in these rituals, Americans are bound together in a common inheritance with both their living and dead countrymen who have likewise commemorated the nation’s independence. Although the endless parades and fireworks may seem like mere entertainments to an outside observer, the practice of each rite serves to strengthen the bond of gratitude and remembrance across generations.
C.S. Lewis, while examining the linguistic root of solemnity in his work A Preface to Paradise Lost, observed that immersion into the particulars of pompous celebration demonstrates not a vanity, but a proper respect for the occasion of the ritual. It is in this solemn sense that continued Independence Day celebrations should be approached. Proper participation is fitting and a cornerstone for the traditional display of American public (or civic) piety: popular habits by which cultural inheritance is stewarded from preceding to succeeding generations in communal fashion. Public piety has long occupied an entrenched position in the American spirit. One can look to both enduring national holidays and local customs, where Thanksgiving and Decoration Day are observed with similar reverence. For these and similar days of remembrance, towns would assemble for parades and speeches, community bands would play American marches, and schools would implement lessons and activities to instruct children in the meaning of the celebration.
As this year’s Independence Day approaches, marking the nation’s Quarter Millennium, public piety should be actively cultivated in celebration. Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms, a set of paintings depicting scenes from American life, is helpful in directing and particularizing this pursuit. What follows are suggestions for celebratory rituals, rooted in the American tradition, and using the titles of each of the Four Freedoms as guides for celebration.
Freedom of Speech
To recognize the divine blessing of freedom of speech at the Quarter Millennium, Americans should read the Declaration of Independence in communal gatherings and set aside time for public storytelling and speech-giving concerning significant episodes and ideas from American history.
Freedom of Worship
To recognize the divine blessing of freedom of worship at the Quater Millennium, Americans should offer prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving to God. They should also humbly petition Him for justice and that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.
Freedom from Want
To recognize the divine blessing of freedom from want at the Quater Millennium, Americans should partake in celebratory feasts. These should involve the intentional preparation of regional American foods for family tables and communal potluck gatherings.
Freedom from Fear
To recognize the divine blessing of freedom from fear at the Quater Millennium, Americans should honor veterans and those who have fought to preserve the peace of the nation. This can take place through personal notes, public acts of recognition, or moments of remembrance for the fallen.
My mother participated in many of these observances at America’s Bicentennial. This year, at the Semiquincentennial, I will lead my own family in these acts of gratitude, remembrance, and public piety. In doing so, I hope not only to provide my young daughters with an enjoyable holiday, but also to impart to them a recognition of their own heritage as Americans. We will read the Declaration of Independence, offer prayers of thanksgiving, feast on homemade Southern fare, honor the veterans in our family, and participate in a parade, games, sports, fireworks, and bonfires. Perhaps one day they will look back on this anniversary with the same fondness as their grandmother looks back on 1976: impressed that it was such a big deal.