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When the world commemorates the centennial of the November 11th armistice which suspended fighting in World War I tomorrow, they will be doing so with millions of red poppies--either real or artificial. How did the poppy come to symbolize what was at the time the greatest convulsion of violence and death in human history?
The great majority of the fighting in World War I took place on French soil, and the peaceful, bucolic French countryside was mowed down by bombs, bullets, and the movements of huge armies across its landscape during four years of all-out war. Most vegetation was destroyed and never recovered until long after the war ended. But poppies, which grow when their seeds are exposed to sunlight through disturbances in the soil, managed to spring up and bloom--a trickle of beauty amidst a huge sea of violence. These flowers are referenced in the very first line of the famous poem In Flanders Fields where Major John McCrae writes, "In Flanders fields where poppies blow..."
After the armistice in late 1918, an American professor named Moina Michael remembered the famous poem, went to Wanamaker's department store in New York, and purchased two dozen red silk poppies to give to friends. They were to be worn on their lapels as an emblem of "keeping the faith with all who died" in the terrible conflict. It wasn't until later that the idea landed on the shores of the United Kingdom, where the poppy is most closely associated as a symbol of remembrance for those who were lost.
Today, the Royal British Legion distributes some 45 million silk poppies each year as a way of ensuring that the British people never forget the great sacrifices of their forebears.
For more on this story, please click on this link.
The great majority of the fighting in World War I took place on French soil, and the peaceful, bucolic French countryside was mowed down by bombs, bullets, and the movements of huge armies across its landscape during four years of all-out war. Most vegetation was destroyed and never recovered until long after the war ended. But poppies, which grow when their seeds are exposed to sunlight through disturbances in the soil, managed to spring up and bloom--a trickle of beauty amidst a huge sea of violence. These flowers are referenced in the very first line of the famous poem In Flanders Fields where Major John McCrae writes, "In Flanders fields where poppies blow..."
After the armistice in late 1918, an American professor named Moina Michael remembered the famous poem, went to Wanamaker's department store in New York, and purchased two dozen red silk poppies to give to friends. They were to be worn on their lapels as an emblem of "keeping the faith with all who died" in the terrible conflict. It wasn't until later that the idea landed on the shores of the United Kingdom, where the poppy is most closely associated as a symbol of remembrance for those who were lost.
Today, the Royal British Legion distributes some 45 million silk poppies each year as a way of ensuring that the British people never forget the great sacrifices of their forebears.
For more on this story, please click on this link.
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