Remembrance Day: Why the Poppy is so Important
It has become a tradition for me on Remembrance Day to pay my respects and honour the sacrifices of those who have fought in wars and other conflicts for our freedoms and way of life.
This year I have been reading more about the history of poppies and why we wear them in the days leading up to Remembrance Day, especially on the day itself. I even found a great video on poppy-wearing etiquette. Learning more about the poppy has created a different meaning for me, and whether one chooses to wear a poppy or not, I think it is beneficial to understand the why behind wearing them.
The history of the poppy begins in the First World War. During this time of conflict, soldiers would see poppies as a common sight. The land across northern France and Flanders in northern Belgium was churned by the battle, which tore up the fields and provided fertile ground for the poppy flower to flourish. The flowers grew throughout the fields where fighting took place and over the graves of fallen soldiers. After Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae saw a cluster of poppies in the spring of 1915, he wrote one of the most famous works of art to emerge from the First World War, the poem “In Flanders Field,” which has been used at countless memorial ceremonies.
In 1918, an American professor Moina Michael wrote, “And now the Torch and Poppy Red, we wear in honour of our dead.” She campaigned to make the poppy a national symbol of remembrance of those who had died in the war. In 1920 the National American Legion passed a vote to use the poppy as America’s official emblem of remembrance. In France, a Frenchwoman named Anna Guérin had also been canvassing the symbolic power of the red poppy. She organized French women, children, and veterans to make and sell artificial poppies to help fund the restoration of France after the war. Guérin then brought her campaign to England in 1921, and soon after, many other nations, including Canada, followed suit in adopting the poppy as their official emblem of remembrance. Today millions of people across the U.K, Belgium, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand wear the red poppy every November up to the 11th to commemorate the anniversary of the 1918 Armistice.
Having had the privilege of being in the company of those who have served in conflicts has given me a deeper appreciation for Remembrance Day commemorations. Every November 11 at 11 o’clock has since become a poignant moment, to take time to reflect on the sacrifices made, lives lost, and those who have had to process the unseen scars of conflict. I recall the conversations I had with a friend who had served in the Second World War and, in his 90’s still had vivid memories of it and missed his friends who had not made it back home alive.
I hope this year we will take a moment of silence to honour and remember our men and women in uniform.
