The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the signing of the Armistice which signaled the end of World War One for it was at 11 am on 11 November 1918 when the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare.
In various parts of the world, this day is known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day or Veterans Day. It is a special day set aside to remember all those men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and other conflicts.
Throughout the world the poppy is associated with the remembrance of those who died in order that we may be free, but how many of us are aware of the reason of how and why the poppy became the symbol of remembrance.
Flanders is the name of the whole western part of Belgium. It saw some of the most concentrated and bloodiest fighting of the First World War. There was complete devastation. Buildings, roads, trees and natural life simply disappeared. Where once there were homes and farms there was now a sea of mud - a grave for the dead where men still lived and fought. Only one other living thing survived. The poppy flowering each year with the coming of the warm weather. It brought life, hope,
color and reassurance to those men still fighting.
Poppies only flower in rooted up soil. Their seeds can lay in the ground for years without germinating, and only grow after the ground has been disturbed. John McCrae, a doctor serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, was so deeply moved by what he saw in northern France that, in 1915 in his pocket book, he scribbled down the poem "In Flanders Field”. McCrae's poem was eventually published in 'Punch' magazine and the poppy became a popular symbol for soldiers who died in battle.
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.
In 1918, Moira Michael, an American, wrote a poem in reply, “We shall keep the faith’, in which she promised to wear a poppy ‘in
honor of our dead’. Thus began the tradition of wearing a poppy in remembrance of all those who have fallen in war.
Our challenge this week is to create a poppy in honor of all the brave men and women, no matter what side they were on, who have perished in wars throughout the history of the world. Post it here.
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Claudette |
Claudette |
