If you were plonked down in an unknown society, how would you identify their most remembered historical figures?
One guess would be to look at the notable physical memorials. Statues, plaques, and names on buildings.
These are the most noticeable, prominent names, and figures. But as someone who reads the plaques, I usually find they’re full of unrecognizable names and forgotten actions. If those pieces of history aren’t also present in the minds of passersby, a statue won’t educate them.
No, physical memorials are what yesterday’s committees and special interest groups decided was worthy to remember, or even, what should be remembered, even if it was worthy only of being forgotten.
Invisible Visions
How many statues are toppled once a society changes? In recent decades we’ve seen statues of communist leaders defaced, knocked down, or relocated to holding spots. The subjects of these statues are long gone. In removing them, we punish the statues for the crimes of their subjects.
It often takes years to remove such statues, but that says more about how many of them there are and how minor their ongoing impact.
For example, it was interesting to me that there still were at least 90 statues of Lenin that were only knocked down during the 2014 Euromaidan protests in Ukraine. That was 23 years after Ukraine became independent from the USSR.
I’ve noticed that type of delay in removing undesirable statues and plaques is common, whether in Spain, Portugal, the US, or elsewhere.
And in more recent years we’re also seen new statues, plaques, and name changes once a new political movement, social movement, or fashion strikes. Just beware of the new memorials put up quickly when mobs tear down the older ones.
But what’s a stronger way to remember someone? Is it putting up more, bigger memorials?
Not if those physical memorials are so easy to ignore that we often forget to remove them.
No, stronger than any physical memorial are the repeated actions people choose to take.
Dead Poet Societies
Physical memories are one thing, but poetry is another. There are so few poems memorialized physically outside of the written page. As much as we might find statues invisible, poems are memorialized in books and our memories.
Robert Burns is the national poet of Scotland. He was the author of works including “To a Mouse” and “Auld Lang Syne.” His work also included collecting folk songs and tales.
Just from those two poems we have popular sayings, the title of a famous book, and a song sung every new year’s eve.
Visually, Burns was memorialized through many statues and stamps (his first stamp was actually issued in the USSR). But I think it is Burns Night, a commemorative dinner which includes poetry, toasts, and a haggis, that really keeps his flame burning.
That first Burns supper was organized and attended by nine of his friends in 1801, five years after his death. They were just remembering him, not trying to build a movement.
But they did build a movement. Burns Nights are celebrated around the world on January 25, Robert Burns’ birthday. They apparently have not changed much since they began.
Another dead poet society emerged on the other side of the globe and more than two thousand years earlier. This one centers around Qu Yuan, a poet in the State of Chu during China’s Warring States period.
He was slandered by a corrupt minister and exiled. In exile, similar to Burns, he collected folktales. In 278 B.C., when he learned that his state’s capital (Ying) was captured, he wrote the poem “Lament for Ying” and committed suicide by walking into a river carrying a rock.
His death is memorialized by repeating the supposed response of nearby villagers who wanted to save him the shame of being eaten by fish. After Qu Yuan drowned, local villagers beat drums, splashed the water with paddles, and threw rice into the river.
Today, those actions have morphed into popular Dragon Boat races and zongzi (rice dumplings).
Since Qu Yuan killed himself, he is memorialized on the day of his death, the anniversary of which is the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
Which of the two poets is better remembered?
Robert Burns gets more personal remembrance in a Burns Night. After all, some of his poems are recited at the events. But few people attend these dinners or ever eat a haggis.
On the other hand, Qu Yuan remembrances have more participants in the action of paddling or watching Dragon Boat races and eating zongzi.
While Burns Nights and Double-Five / Dragon Boat Day are celebrated around the world, for me the best combination of them was in Hong Kong. The city’s early history had a lot of Scottish influence, which still faintly echoes in street and building names.
Sadly, I’ve never been to a Burns Night, but I have paddled a Dragon Boat and eaten zongzi.
Consider
- Do physical memorials take more than their share of attention when it comes to protests and too little share when it comes of remembrance?
- How do we create new, meaningful, and productive remembrances rather than backward-looking unproductive ones?
- Depending on your perspective, a plaque certainly could be worth fighting over.
- What Dead Poet Societies do you choose to participate in? Which do you participate in without choosing?