Content written by the Educators Council team, originally published as the November 2025 Educators Newsletter.

For many, November invites reflection—not only on those who have died or survived, but on how we remember them. This month offers an opportunity to explore the emotional, cultural, and social dimensions of loss, and how individuals and communities commemorate sacrifice, survival, and personal grief.

National mourning serves as a powerful, unifying ritual. But behind the ceremonies are diverse experiences of remembrance. This month’s newsletter focuses on social histories: how people mourn, how memory is shaped, and how pupils can engage with remembrance as a dynamic, human process. Through these lenses, we invite reflection on how histories of commemoration influence shared understandings of loss and resilience.

For every topic, we will provide practical resources that help educators approach this topic in a clear and visual way with students, helping them bring awareness and sensitivity to different cultures.

How does Veterans Day foster community spirit in the United States?

Historiography since the 1960s has become more considerate of social history. As part of the conversation of remembering Veterans who gave their lives to the United States, we are shedding light on how communities commemorate and carry forward their legacy.

What is the civic dimension of Vets Day?

Since 2001, National Veterans Awareness Week has aimed to foster community and partnership in aid of war veterans since WWI. People come together and engage in shared story-telling. Schools and other community organisations enliven the spirit of social history through the mediums of talks and visits. Communal reflection is embedded within the very spirit of Vets Day.

The Fredericksburg Veterans Day Procession is emblematic of a very common ritual of remembering. In a study by Foote and Azaryahu (2007), processions are considered to represent the nexus of geography and public memory. Remembrance is a physical activity, capturing what Foote and Azaryahu describe as the ‘actualisation’ of the past. This becomes a collective experience in what is an inherently communal practice. “Ceremonial activities and commemorative events facilitate the convergence of liturgical time and myths pace and exude a sense of permanence” argue Foote and Azhar. This is a powerful evocation of how processions represent the bending of time and space to reproduce a vivid and active experience of remembrance.

Veterans Day Parades have evolved from solemn marches to complex itineraries of fireworks, marching bands and festivals. This type of remembrance is conceived by some as a celebration. Fruh (2024) draws our attention to expressions of gratitude and joy forming a core function in modern-day processes of remembrance.

Commemoration rituals attract much controversy. The ethical dilemma of how communities come together to express their memories is subject to policing. Nonetheless, the process of memory and how it shapes communities is dynamic and worth exploring with pupils. Their very engagement and participation in commemoration is a testament to the meaning of History- as a continuous process of events rather than isolated blocks of time in the past.

How does language and tone shape how collective memory is formed?

Letters are among the most emotive of primary sources. The personal voice and perspective of the writer etches in the reader a vivid image of experience. 

This is an opportunity to think historiographically: how does the language used to describe war shape the way we remember it? A soldier writes a letter, we read that letter, and in the act of interpretation we don’t just access the past — we construct a memory of it.

Here is an excerpt of a letter, written by a soldier on January 17 1950. He is writing to his girlfriend-turned-wife, Rosalie.

“Wish that you were over here tonight because I need, need you to love and need someone to talk to. Everyone here is in the same boat. Everyone tries to make a joke out of it but deep down inside, everyone is scared, not for themselves so much, but mostly for their loved ones. Scared too that their life’s dreams won’t come true. I don’t think I’d be selfish by wanting to bring into reality our dream. That sweetheart means more to me than anything else.”

Students can use this as a moment of introspection.

• How does authors language—and the way we interpret it—shape the kind of memory we construct about their experience of war?
• How does the act of engaging with these letters turn private expressions of fear, hope, or loss into part of a shared, collective memory of conflict?
• How does their personal engagement with the past contribute to history as an ongoing process?

Rituals of Remembrance: Death and Social Memory

Since the Day of the Dead is also observed in November, it offers an opportunity to consider how remembrance of loved ones takes shape in a different cultural context.

Generally, the Day of the Dead honours one’s ancestors, on a day believed to be when their spirits return to Earth. This is adjacent to the Roman Catholic tradition of All Souls Day.

How do Mexican Day of the Dead rituals compare to European Roman-Catholic rituals of All-Souls Day?

Discuss the following questions with your students:

• How do rituals serve as a form of identity preservation?
• How can studying rituals like Día de los Muertos help us understand the relationship between private family history and broader national history?

Built With You

We have big plans for developing even more educational resources.

These will be built in close collaboration with our Educators Council, which is free and open to any educators to join.

We would love to hear your feedback! Did you use the questions proposed? How was your experience? Are there any other resources that might be valuable to you? Email us to share.