ARMISTICE DAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21954, 10 November 1934, Page 12

ARMISTICE DAY

The commemoration of Armistice Day, that ceremony held in common throughout the Empire, and in varying forms in many other countries to which it has a deep and solemn meaning, falls this year upon a Sunday. The coincidence of this day of solemn remembrance with that day in seven which has a sacred significance to many millions, brings to the war anniversary itself both gains and losses. There is more leisure to arrange and to observe the simple ritual which has now become accepted. The atmosphere of the Christian Sabbath and the spirit of humble thanksgiving for war's surcease, which should mark Armistice Day, are wholly appropriate one to another. These are the gains. The loss is that the pause in the busy activities of an ordinary working day, the sudden fall of silence when, just before, the community was about its ordinary duties and activities, the contrast that this brought, will not be marked this year. The great virtue of the normal commemoration is that it can be made universal. When set ceremonies of observance are held, no matter how many throng to take part, only a proportion of the people can attend. With Armistice Day, as usually observed, nobody need fail to be a participant if he wishes to be. It is a small thing to lay aside whatever is on hand, to stand silent and immobile for the space of two minutes, to devote that time to remembering the day when the gunfire ceased, the years which went before, and all who fell by the way during that period of agony and strife. Yet by the manner of its observance it can be a great thing. As the years have passed, many memories of wartime have been dimmed. It was inevitable, perhaps, that the Bharp edge of recollection should grow dull, that the fervour of thanksgiving for peace restored should slacken, and even perhaps that the revulsion from war should lose some strength. Yet it is a wholesome and a heartening sign to find the community seeming determined that come Sunday, come week-day, the Armistice shall still be oommemorated.