# Is the poppy a Canadian-only tradition? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194 "2008-11-05T03:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/61 "2008-11-06T18:46:21Z")
Never seen it, and heard of it only last year on the Dope. (Northeast US) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/62 "2008-11-06T21:03:13Z")
[QUOTE=Si Amigo] You pretty much got it right. Poppies=Opium=Morphine=painless death to a soldier. [/QUOTE] Um, no. That’s silly. The connection of poppies derives from the poem you yourself cited, which is titled “In Flanders Fields.” The poem refers to the ubiquitous poppies that would spring up in Flanders (part of Belgium) wherever earth had been churned up, such as graves. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/63 "2008-11-06T21:40:15Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Um, no. That’s silly. > > The connection of poppies derives from the poem you yourself cited, which is titled “In Flanders Fields.” The poem refers to the ubiquitous poppies that would spring up in Flanders (part of Belgium) wherever earth had been churned up, such as graves. Silly? Not according to this site on Flander’s Field: [http://www.poppies.ws/poppies/in-flanders-fields-the-poppies-blow.html](http://www.poppies.ws/poppies/in-flanders-fields-the-poppies-blow.html) Poppies were long associated with pain killing attributes, long before the poem even. It was common knowledge. The next to last line of the poem states “We shall not sleep, though poppies grow” refers to the fact that even the soothing nature of poppies will not let them rest in peace if you break faith with their sacrifice. Silly, I think not. 😉 And I thank my H.S. English teacher, Mr. Kramer, for this insight. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/64 "2008-11-06T22:19:51Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > The British Legion is very worthwhile, but no more so - in fact, I think less - deserving than many others. I have never understood why, in this day and age, there is this national obsession with this one charity. Probably because millions, from all sections of society, died in some of the bloodiest, most horrendous battles of all time. Everybody lost somebody in the world wars. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/65 "2008-11-06T22:44:16Z")
Paper poppies are sold (offered) on the street in my little town. Every spring. By the ladies of the American Legion and Vets of Foreign Wars auxiliary. For a free will offering of what ever you have in your pocket. The money goes for little amenities for the people in the VA hospitals and (yes, we still have them) old soldiers homes. It is the cheep screw indeed who is not sporting one in the week or so before Memorial/Decoration Day. A side note: The great Gettysburg Cyclorama was painted by a team of European artists who were skilled at the trade. Some did people, some painted horses, some did smoke, some did landscapes. If you look closely at the painting you will see red poppies in the yellow wheat. It is a European thing where wild poppies are like dandelions – the first flowering plant that springs up in damaged soil. There probably not a wild poppy any place in south-central Pennsylvania. And I don’t care what anybody says, November 11 is Armistice Day. That big thing in the kitchen is an icebox and I play music on a record player. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/66 "2008-11-06T23:11:06Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Probably because millions, from all sections of society, died in some of the bloodiest, most horrendous battles of all time. Everybody lost somebody in the world wars. Indeed. As I think I’ve mentioned before, if you were arranging to meet a stranger in an English village previously unknown to both of you, you could almost certainly arrange to meet by the War Memorial - in the (unhappily) confident expectation that there would be one, and that it would not be at all difficult to find someone who could give you directions. As to “all sections of society”, you could probably win money betting that the village church would have a memorial slab bearing the name of at least one of the local sons of the gentry - they were the primary source of junior officers, whose attrition rate was high. ---
**Author:** ![ming\_the\_merciless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@ming\_the\_merciless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ming_the_merciless)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/67 "2008-11-06T23:32:37Z")
poppy day is a big thing over here in england. i was always taught that the poppy was used as a symbol because as someone else mentioned earlier they were the first things to grow in the ground that had been churned up by shell fire. some may find this of interest as well in 2005 as part of the celebrations marking 60 years since the end of the second world war over 1 million poppys were dropped on the mall from a Lancaster bomber link here > **[BBC NEWS | UK | Poppy tribute on World War II day](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4668737.stm)** > > One million poppies are dropped by a Lancaster Bomber over The Mall to mark Commemoration Day. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/68 "2008-11-07T00:29:50Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Silly? Not according to this site on Flander’s Field: [http://www.poppies.ws/poppies/in-flanders-fields-the-poppies-blow.html](http://www.poppies.ws/poppies/in-flanders-fields-the-poppies-blow.html) > > Poppies were long associated with pain killing attributes, long before the poem even. It was common knowledge. The next to last line of the poem states “We shall not sleep, though poppies grow” refers to the fact that even the soothing nature of poppies will not let them rest in peace if you break faith with their sacrifice. > > Silly, I think not. 😉 And I thank my H.S. English teacher, Mr. Kramer, for this insight. Ok, that’s a commercial site that sells poppy seeds:dubious: They say The last line We shall not sleep, though poppies grow / In Flanders fields **might** point to the fact that some kinds of poppies can be used to derive opium from, from which morphine can be made emphasis mine You want to try for a contemporary cite that rank and file soldiers connected local poppies with morphine? ---
**Author:** ![ming\_the\_merciless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@ming\_the\_merciless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ming_the_merciless)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/69 "2008-11-07T00:47:49Z")
the royal british legion has a little to say on the subject [http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/content/History-of-the-Poppy-Appeal-508925.shtml](http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/content/History-of-the-Poppy-Appeal-508925.shtml) on a slightly different tack these people do an outstanding job of looking after war graves in all parts of the world > **[The Commonwealth War Graves Commission | CWGC](https://www.cwgc.org/)** > > Welcome to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. We commemorate the 1.7M men and women of the Commonwealth that died during the First & Second World Wars. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/70 "2008-11-07T02:04:06Z")
They’re to commemorate the sacrifices made by soldiers in all wars on behalf of their country. The money (can be any amount as a donation, although a pound is usually about right) goes to support veterans. A very noble cause, I wear mine late October through to November 11th, Armistice Day in WW1 and Remembrance Day since. Very popular in Britain. See the end of _Blackadder Goes Forth_ for the symbolism. As a child I used to think they represented gunshot wounds; the black being the bullet, the red the blood and the green leaf the uniform. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/71 "2008-11-07T03:29:05Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Ok, that’s a commercial site that sells poppy seeds:dubious: > > They say > The last line We shall not sleep, though poppies grow / In Flanders fields **might** point to the fact that some kinds of poppies can be used to derive opium from, from which morphine can be made > emphasis mine I think the far more obvious connection is to the immediately preceding lines: “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.” As in, the dead will not be able to rest in peace if their cause is not taken up. In Canada as has been previously noted, both the poppy and In Flanders Fields are a significant presence around Remembrance Day, November 11th. The Canadian $10 bill includes an excerpt from In Flanders Fields, and the Canadian Mint has issued 25 cent coins at least twice, the most recently being this year, that have poppies in the centre. Remembrance Day is observed in most provinces (though not in Ontario or Quebec I believe). In recent years at the official ceremonies following the official program which includes the laying of poppy wreaths are laid at a cenotaph or memorial it seems to have become common for members of the general public to remove their poppies from their lapels and lay them at the memorial as well. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194/72 "2008-11-07T18:46:31Z")
Poppies definitely have a connection with opium, but not in this context. The important thing about the connection between poppies and wars is that they spring up in the aftermath of devastation when nothing else is growing, not that they are used for opium. If anyone is telling you that the connection is between poppies and opium, they need to do a little more homework. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-poppy-a-canadian-only-tradition/471194.md?page=3)