Remembrance poppy

A remembrance poppy is an artificial flower worn in some countries to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. Remembrance poppies are produced by veterans' associations, who exchange the poppies for charitable donations used to give financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the armed forces. Inspired by the war poem "In Flanders Fields", and promoted by Moina Michael, they were first used near the end of World War I to commemorate British Empire and United States military casualties of the war. Madame Guérin established the first "Poppy Days" to raise funds for veterans, widows, orphans, liberty bonds, and charities such as the Red Cross. Remembrance poppies are most commonly worn in Commonwealth countries, where it has been trademarked by veterans' associations for fundraising. Remembrance poppies in Commonwealth countries are often worn on clothing in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day, with poppy wreaths also being laid at war memorials on that day. However, in New Zealand, remembrance poppies are most commonly worn on Anzac Day. The red remembrance poppy has inspired the design of several other commemorative poppies that observe different aspects of war and peace. References to war and poppies in Flanders can be found as early as the 19th century, in the book The Scottish Soldiers of Fortune by James Grant: The Scots in Holland and Flanders: At Neerwinden, in 1693, the brigade again suffered heavy loss, and William was compelled again to give way before the white-coated infantry of France with the loss of 10,000 men. "During many months after", wrote the Earl of Perth to his sister (as quoted by Macaulay), "the ground was strewn with skulls and bones of horses and men, and with fragments of hats, shoes, saddles, and holsters. The next summer the soil, fertilised by 20,000 corpses, broke forth into millions of scarlet poppies." The opening lines of the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields" refer to Flanders poppies growing among the graves of war victims in a region of Belgium.

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Related concepts (8)

Papaver rhoeas

Papaver rhoeas, with common names including common poppy, corn poppy, corn rose, field poppy, Flanders poppy, and red poppy, is an annual herbaceous species of flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae. It is a temperate native with a very wide distribution area, from Africa to temperate and tropical Asia and Europe. It is regarded as an agricultural weed (hence the common names including "corn" and "field"). As the plant thrives in areas of disturbed soil, it was often abundant in agricultural fields before the advent of herbicides.

White poppy

The white poppy is a flower used as a symbol of peace, worn either in place of or in addition to the red remembrance poppy for Remembrance Day or Anzac Day. In 1926, a few years after the introduction of the red poppy in the UK, the idea of pacifists making their own poppies was put forward by a member of the No More War Movement (as well as the proposal that the black centre of the British Legion's red poppies should be imprinted with "No More War").

Remembrance poppy