Everybody in the UK wears a poppy on 11th November. But do you know why
this flower was chosen to symbolize Remembrance Day? And how did the
distinctive red flower become such a potent symbol of our remembrance of
the sacrifices made in past wars?
Scarlet corn poppies (popaver rhoeas) grow naturally in conditions of
disturbed earth throughout Western Europe. The destruction brought by
the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th Century transformed bare land into
fields of blood red poppies, growing around the bodies of the
fallen soldiers.
 |
| Community of St. Albert's |
In late 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders were once again
ripped open as World War One raged through Europe's heart. Once the
conflict was over the poppy was one of the only plants to grow on the
otherwise barren battlefields.
The significance of the poppy as a lasting memorial symbol to the fallen
was realised by the Canadian surgeon John McCrae in his poem In
Flanders Fields. The poppy came to represent the
immeasurable sacrifice made by his comrades and quickly became a lasting
memorial to those who died in World War One and later conflicts. It was
adopted by The Royal British Legion as the symbol for their
Poppy Appeal, in aid of those serving in the British Armed Forces, after its formation in 1921.
Here you have a video to learn how to make a poppy, the well-known symbol of the end of the IWW
