The Poppy

With Remembrance day approaching, the Canadian Club here at HBS deposited poppies in the mailboxes of all its members. A nice touch. (Even nicer is that it turns Acadia University sends a box of poppies to us each year...though I'm not sure how this got started, I think it's a nice tradition).

Anyway, so I wear mine to class, and everyone is wondering why Glenn is suddenly wearing flowers. (And taken together with the Pricilla Ball outfit I wore in October [see a previous post] I'm sure there was some interesting speculation going around the room).

It was mainly the Americans who were surprised by it, the Aussies, Brits, and even the Jamaican were familair with the tradition. (It also came out that the French do so as well).

So I sent some information to the class on the Commonwealth tradition of wearing the poppy, and got a decent response. I thought I'd also post it here for the sake of interest, and so that I don't lose it.

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Why the Poppy?

A writer first made the connection between the poppy and battlefield deaths during the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, remarking that fields that were barren before battle exploded with the blood-red flowers after the fighting ended.

During the tremendous bombardments of the First World War the chalk soils became rich in lime from rubble, allowing 'popaver rhoeas' to thrive. When the war ended the lime was quickly absorbed, and the poppy began to disappear again.

After John McCrae, a doctor in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, published the poem In Flanders Fields in 1915, the poppy became a popular symbol for soldiers who died in battle. Three years later, Moina Michael, an American working in a New York City YMCA canteen, wrote a poem in response, entitled We shall keep the faith, and started wearing a poppy in memory of the millions who died on the battlefield.

During a 1920 visit to the United States a French woman, Madame Guerin, learned of the custom. On her return to France she decided to use handmade poppies to raise money for the destitute children in war-torn areas of the country. In November, 1921, the first poppies were distributed in Canada. Thanks to the millions of Canadians who wear flowers each November, the little red plant has never died, and neither have Canadian's memories for their countrymen who died in battle.

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/firstwar/mccrae

Other poppy sites:

Canada: http://www.legion.ca/asp/docs/rempoppy/allabout_e.asp
Britain: http://www.poppy.org.uk/
Australia: http://www.dva.gov.au/commem/rememb/rem_poppies.htm


In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween 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