# Nov. 11 & poppies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410 "2003-11-10T15:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/1 "2003-11-10T15:50:05Z")
In Canada, where I grew up, it’s traditional to wear a poppy in the days leading up to November 11 (what the Canucks call Remembrance Day, the Yanks call Veteran’s Day, and everyone else, I think, calls Armistice Day - correct me if I’m wrong.) This is done as a symbol of the soldiers killed in the First World War, and I believe it springs directly from a [poem](http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/LostPoets/McCrae.html) by John McCrae. My question is: is the wearing of poppies a tradition anywhere else in the world, or is it strictly a Canadian thing? I’ve never seen it done since I moved down to the States, and I was wondering if this practice was observed anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/2 "2003-11-10T15:54:52Z")
Very common - to the point of ubiquity - in Britain, and amongst the unionist community in Northern Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/3 "2003-11-10T15:57:05Z")
It actually orginated in the US and the practice is certainly observed in the UK, Austrailia and New Zealand and AFAIK in Europe to. [http://www.rnzrsa.org.nz/remem/poppy\_sig.html](http://www.rnzrsa.org.nz/remem/poppy_sig.html) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/4 "2003-11-10T16:00:29Z")
Funny, MC, but I work with Americans who come up to Canada quite regularly, and absolutely without fail every November they will ask, “What are the red poppies for?” If it started in the USA, it sure doesn’t seem to have survived in the public consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/5 "2003-11-10T16:03:53Z")
No, the only time I’ve ever seen it in America is in an English pub. ---
**Author:** ![Kymodoce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8797f3/32.png) [@Kymodoce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kymodoce)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/6 "2003-11-10T16:15:24Z")
My wife is American, I am British… she knew nothing of the habit of wearing poppies on Remembrance Day until she moved here to the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/7 "2003-11-10T16:17:51Z")
Can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone in the States where a poppy, either. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/8 "2003-11-10T16:37:45Z")
I didn’t say it is observd in the US just that it orginated there: > [@](#): > > When the Conference delegates gave Moina a gift of ten dollars in appreciation of her assistance, she went to a New York department store and purchased 25 artificial red poppies and, pinning one on her own collar, distributed the remainder to the YMCA secretaries with an explanation of her motivation. She viewed this act as the first group distribution of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy. > > Moina Michael hereafter tirelessly campaigned to get the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance. In September 1920 the American Legion adopted the Poppy as such at its annual Convention. Attending that Convention was a French woman who was about to promote the poppy — as a symbol of remembrance — throughout the world. ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/9 "2003-11-10T16:41:24Z")
It has been some years since I have noticed it being done, but it used to be common in St. Louis for some charity or other to sell artificial poppies on Veteran’s Day which people would then wear in their lapels. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/10 "2003-11-10T16:41:52Z")
Another (UK) site that confirms that poppy selling and wearing originated in the US: [http://www.greatwar.co.uk/umbrella/ffpopmoina.htm](http://www.greatwar.co.uk/umbrella/ffpopmoina.htm) But at some point it obviously died out. One of the reasons poppy-wearing didn’t take hold in the US is that it already had a pre-existing holiday to remember its war dead in the form of Decoration Day/Memorial Day. November 11 has always thus always had less prominence. ---
**Author:** ![Xgemina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b5e925/32.png) [@Xgemina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xgemina)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/11 "2003-11-10T16:49:21Z")
I grew up in SD and WY and I wear one every year. Around here, starting in late October, I always see either the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars selling (asking a donation for) poppies in the entrance ways of grocery stores, the mall, etc. I must admit the number of people wearing a poppy seems to be declining every year…and, of course, those that wear them are getting older. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/12 "2003-11-10T17:01:52Z")
The use of poppies is dying out (as are most WWI vets) in the US. Part is due to the connection between poppies and heroin. The American Legion isn’t very comfortable when people think it’s a drug reference. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/13 "2003-11-10T17:07:24Z")
I don’t even know what a poppy looks like. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/14 "2003-11-10T17:10:16Z")
Too bad, since even the tradename _heroin_ refers to the battlefield. ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/15 "2003-11-10T17:13:26Z")
A [real Poppy](http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/poppy.jpg) The [kind we wear](http://canada.easter.ne.jp/poppy.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/16 "2003-11-10T17:14:56Z")
And remember, our involvement in World War I was followed by an intense period of isolationism; from a contemporary perspective it seems we almost wanted to forget it. We also suffered but a tiny fraction of the losses of other countries - about [116,000](http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/other/stats/warcost.htm) of a total population of 100m, or .1%. Canada (& Newfoundland) lost some [69,000](http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=feature/week2000/media/stats) out of a total population of approx. 8m - 8 times our losses, proportionately. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/17 "2003-11-10T17:28:54Z")
I, too have seen the American Legion/VFW passing out poppies for donations. However, as the enrollment of these organizations declines, I think the practice is dying out in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/18 "2003-11-10T17:32:50Z")
The reason that we Brits wear poppies is that they were the only flower that would bloom on the battlefields of Flanders, and as such became the symbol of the war. The fund that is now administered by the British Legion ( a veterans charity) used to be called the Haig Fund - which given Haig’s role in the conflict is a touch ironic. And a small point - it’s no longer 11/11 that is commorated, rather the Sunday nearest to it is Rememberence Sunday, and there is a big parade of former (and current) service men in Whitehall, together with The Queen and other dignitaries centered around the Cenotaph. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/19 "2003-11-10T18:34:50Z")
What, did I miss the reference to John McRae? [In Flanders fields the poppies grow, Between the crosses, row on row…]([http://www.geocities.com/~worldwar1/mccrae.html](http://www.geocities.com/~worldwar1/mccrae.html)) ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410/20 "2003-11-10T18:47:40Z")
Duh, yes I did miss the reference to John McRae. The important thing is this: > [@](#): > > Wild poppies flower when other plants in their direct neighbourhood are dead. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, but only when there are no more competing flowers or shrubs in the vicinity (for instance when someone firmly roots up the ground), these seeds will sprout. > > There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nov-11-poppies/212410.md?page=2)