|
 REMEMBRANCE
DAY POPPY
We are so used
to seeing the poppies appear every November that we never stop to consider why
this particular symbol was chosen. It has been used since 1921 and is a visual
pledge to never forget the Canadians who never came back from wars and military
operations. As other countries also use this symbol it is an international
“symbol of collective reminiscence”. But, why a poppy?
It would
appear that the first association between the poppy and wars began in the 19th
century around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. At that time it was discovered
that previously barren fields before the battles suddenly produced these blood
red flowers after the fighting ended. Then in 1915 Canadian Lt.-Col. John McCrae
saw poppies growing beside the grave of a close friend who had died in battle
and was inspired to write the poem “In Flanders Fields”. This poem became a
great inspiration in Canada, France, the USA, Britain and the Commonwealth
countries and this resulted in the poppy being accepted as the Flower of
Remembrance.
In 1918
an American Teacher was so inspired by the poem that she made a personal pledge
to always keep the faith by wearing a red poppy in November as a sign of
remembrance. Two years later a French woman, Madame Guerin learned of the
custom and started making poppies to raise money for the destitute children in
war-town countries. Following this idea The Royal Canadian Legion adopted the
poppy as their Flower of Remembrance in 1921. Today the distribution of
millions of poppies is an important source of their revenue that goes toward
helping ex-servicemen and women buy food and obtain shelter and medical
attention for those who need it. Etiquette specifies that you should wear the
poppy for two weeks prior to November 11, but at the 11th hour of
that day it should be removed and preferably placed upon a serviceman’s grave.
If that is impossible dispose of it properly. Do not save it.
Here is
the poem that started it all.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders
fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the
Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our
quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
- John
McCrae, 1915
Sources
http://www.canoe.ca/RemembranceDay/poppy.html
http://legion.ca/asp/docs/rempoppy/allabout_e.asp
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-tributes/poppy.htm | 
