Many of us, having lived in Canada all their lives, find the poppy to be inextricably linked to remembrance, notably of WWI military losses. We may be unfamiliar with its history, and even more unfamiliar with other flowers that serve the same purpose abroad.

Poppies have started being worn and offered on October 25, and this will continue until Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day is on November 11; it commemorates the WWI armistice.

The Commonwealth and the USA

The history of the poppy starts with poppy fields. Before the Great War, poppies did not grow much in the Flanders region. Throughout the war, they became more common due to the changes to the soil occasioned by the war. A Canadian famously noted so in a poem which became the inspiration for the poppy as a symbol and a fundraising opportunity.

Captain John McCrae, who was a surgeon, wrote “In Flanders Fields” in Ypres in 1915 after the death of a close friend. It’s lucky that another soldier found the poem, which Captain McCrae had discarded, otherwise, this piece of art would have been lost. It reads as follows.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That marks 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.

Moina Michael, an American woman, was moved by the poem and campaign to make the poppy a symbol of Remembrance. Madame E. Guerin, a French woman, was at a meeting were Michael put forth the idea and brought it back home. She talked the British Commander-in-Chief Earl Haig into selling artificial poppies to raise money. The poppy is still used by Canada, the UK, the USA, and Australia.

France

France does not use the poppy as a symbol of remembrance. They use the cornflower or Bleuet de France. This flower’s blue colour is a nod to the uniform colour of French Great War military. The flower also grew in the trenches.

Belgium

In 1930, Belgium adopts the daisy as an official symbol of remembrance. The princess Jean de Mérode sells them to raise money to help soldiers. It lost in popularity to the poppy after WWII, but there have been attempts to revive this tradition by authorities.

Forget-me-nots

Forget-me-nots are another symbol present in Canada. Before joining Canada in 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador observed their own traditions, which have survived despite the addition of the Canadian ones. The blue flowers are worn on July 1^st, to honour the casualties of the 1916 Battle of the Somme.

Rosemary

While observing remembrance day on Nov 11 along with the commonwealth,
Australia has a second one. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. On April 25 1915, they participated in the battle at Gallipoli peninsula. That day is still celebrated yearly. On both days of commemoration, Australians may wear both poppy and rosemary. According to the Greeks, Rosemary helped memory, and the association has stayed over the centuries, which is why it is worn by Australians.