Xgemina hit the nail on the head. I also grew up in South Dakota and remember the sale of poppies every Nov 11. I think the idea has become unpopular since those days a long long time ago.
At my university, Guelph, it is almost blasphemous to NOT wear a poppy in Remembrance Day. John McCrae was born there, not 10 minutes walk from the campus and War Memorial Hall, the building dedicated to the students (and all soldiers) who died during the first and second world wars. I can’t remember a time in my life (all 22 years of it) where poppies weren’t worn, and I suppose the strength of that tradition in Canada is obvious when you take a look at our ten-dollar-bill:
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/general/character/2001_10b.htm
The words just left of centre of the back of the bill are the first verse of “In Flander’s Fields”, in both english and french.
I have a poppy in my car, year-round, pinned to the ceiling. It’s been there since I got that car, 4 years ago, and its actually one of the poppies with the green centre, rather than the black.
So how does that prove that it didn’t originate here?
Local chapters of the VFW sell popies on 11/11.
Regional thing perhaps.
WWII veterans may not push it like the WWI Vets.
May first as Labor Day is another commemorative day which was born in the USA and which today is celebrated pretty much around the world. . . except in the USA where it is celebrated in September.
As someone mentioned we do wear poppies here in Australia. I remember one of my school teachers saying the red colour of the poppy symbolised the blood spilt.
They definetly have poppies as general veteran’s organization fundraisers more or less year round in Massachusetts, and I certainly know the connection between 11/11 and poppies, but I don’t associate Veteran’s/Rememberance Day and poppies THAT tightly in my head.
In the U.S., poppies are worn on Memorial Day, not Veterans Day.
Check out Frequently Asked Veterans Day Questions.
Peace.
Hmmm… Either I’m far less observant than I imagined I was, or my home state of Maryland is far less observant of this poppy tradition than other places in the States.
I’m 48 years old and until a few minutes ago I had never even *heard * of this tradition. And to my recollection have never seen anyone wearing a poppy on Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day.
Weird.
In the U.S., this is mostly a VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) thing. They’ll sometimes sell (take a donation for) a poppy outside public places such as churches and supermarkets. And, it is a dying practice since its mostly the WWII vets that have been keeping the VFWs going, and, they’re going.
Peace.
Dogface, in reply to my post you said:
“So how does that prove that it didn’t originate here?”
It doesn’t… if you read the OP it asked:
“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.”
I was giving a bit of information on observance (ie that, in our experience, it was observed in the UK and not in the US), which I thought might be useful, sorry if it wasn’t.
Thanks for your welcome to the board though 