Poppies and Landscapes of War

In the U.S. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. This year Memorial Day is legally celebrated on Monday, May 29; the traditional date for Memorial Day is May 30 which is Tuesday.

Flanders field poppies (Papaver rhoeas) have been a symbol of this special day for nine decades. It is also the symbol of Remembrance Day or Armistice Day, observed on various dates in other English speaking countries to commemorate World War I and other wars.

These poppies have brilliant red to orange-red, two-inch flowers, with satiny, shimmering petals. It appears that they grow best in natural masses in previously cultivated or tilled soil. Plant historians believe that their origins are as old as agriculture. Before the widespread use of herbicides in farming, these poppies grew along with grain crops like wheat. A picture in the National Geographic (May 2006) article “Prince Charles’ Backyard” clearly shows this commingling.

How did this simple flower become the symbol of remembrance for a world conflict that caused disintegration of four empires and changed European and Middle Eastern maps?

Poppies bloomed along much of the western front and across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders, the north part of Belgium. Their red color seemed an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare, which is how most of the fighting took place. As a result, Canadian military doctor Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was inspired, in 1915, to write the poem “In Flanders Fields.”

Moina Michael, a YMCA war Volunteer in New York City, read McCrae’s poem on November 9, two days before the signing of the Armistice that ended the war. Michael hastily scribbled her poem “We Shall Keep the Faith.”

The Miracle Flower, The Story of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy tells the story of how Michael developed the idea to wear red paper poppies on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving during war. She was the first to wear one and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers. The money went to benefit servicemen in need.

The complete poem “In Flanders Fields” is at the Blog entry Poppies and Landscapes of War and “We Shall Keep the Faith” is at the Blog entry Poppies and Remembrance.

Polish National Flowers – Red Poppies from Monte Cassino tells about the connections in song and verse with Papaver rhoeas and the people of Poland.

©

Text by Georgene A. Bramlage, May 2006. Reproduction without permission prohibited.