Dam haMaccabim is the national flower of Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day. According to legend, from every drop of Maccabean blood that fell to the ground, the red flower sprouted. The Dam haMaccabim has seeped deep into the very fiber of our being. Spurred on by the legend, we have learned as a nation to channel our bereavement into a culture of growth and development, of bringing forth new life. The Dam HaMaccabim Project aspires to perpetuate the memory of our fallen by filling the streets with people across the globe wearing these flowers in unity and in solidarity as a nation. In English, the flower is called Red Everlasting as the flower, like the memory of our fallen, never fades away. A new initiative by the Maccabees Blood organization is working to replace the familiar Dam Maccabim sticker from Memorial Day with a pin with the flower itself and is launching a pilot this year in which 30,000 pins will be distributed throughout the country and abroad. The association says that since 1955, the Dam haMaccabim has officially been used as the national symbol of Memorial Day, inspired by the Western tradition of wearing memorial flowers. As of today, the Defense Ministry's Commemoration Division distributes about four million stickers of the flower's image. The patch was created as a necessary substitute. As a wild flower, delicate and protected, that grows only in Israel, the flower was never accessible to pick for mass distribution. Until today. The Maccabees Blood Association, established by three Israeli entrepreneurs, has worked over the last two years to develop a growing method that will enable replacing the familiar sticker with the flower itself. Helichrysum sanguineum - Dam haMaccabim iStock The association notes that according to the legend, every drop of blood from the Maccabees that fell to the ground was absorbed, spawned, and sprouted from the ground the Dam haMaccabim red flower. The legend connects the Nation and the Land, between the generations of fallen and those close to them, and especially between the pain of bereavement and the growth of the State. It is no wonder that the Blood of the Maccabees, which blooms in time for Memorial Day, has been chosen as the national symbol of a sad and empowering day from the early days of the State. The symbolic flower is picked before flowering, with the red edges not yet opened as a symbol for young men and women plucked in their youth. "Our goal is to revive the organic symbol of the blood flower of the Maccabees and distribute it with the help of the women in the public sphere," explains one of the founders of the association, Ariel Mareski. "The memory of our fallen loved ones, their lives and their heritage, often brings us back, in Israel and the Diaspora, to the hope and what we hold in common, to the beauty and goodness of our country and our people. With the help of our project, we hope to remember and remind us all of the deep connection of the Jewish People and minority citizens of Israel who all tied their fate together." The flower pin is available to order on the Association's Facebook page, Dam haMaccabim.