Each year at the start of November women and men in the Britain and various commonwealth
nations start to wear a red poppy in the run up to Armistice Day on 11th November. Referred to as Remembrance Day in the Great Britain, it is the day we remember the men and women who have fallen in conflict in the protection of their land. The Armistice was the binding agreement that finished World War I and it was signed on 11th November 1918 at 11am.
At 11 o'clock on the eleventh day of the 11th month, United Kingdom stops for 2 minutes to observe a silence. Remembrance Sunday is observed on the second Sunday in November with parades, memorial services and the laying of wreaths at war memorials in cities, towns and villages all over Great Britain. The symbolic representation of Remembrance is the poppy and it has been adopted by the Royal British Legion who do so much great work to help former military personal.
The year after the end of World War I, King George V dedicated a day to observe the personal who had fallen during the 4 year conflict and the 1st two minute silence was observed in London on 11th November 1919 at 11am. The next day, the Manchester Guardian claimed that the 2 minute silence was impeccably observed.
The poppy was chosen as the symbolic representation of Remembrance for two reasons; its red colour mirrored the bloodshed and the in the war torn fields of Flanders, the poppy was one of the few living things to bloom. The poppy is refered to in the poem "In Flanders Fields" which was penned by the Canadian doctor John McCrae in 1915.
The design of the poppy worn as a symbol of Remembrance varies slightly from nation to nation. In Great Britain, the arrangement of the poppy is a flat, stiff paper leaf mounted on a plastic stem. Some also have a single green leaf and it is held in position with in a single pin.
Wreaths laid at memorials on Armistice Day and all through the year are typically made of artificial poppies and today countries everywhere have taken the poppy as the general symbolic representation of Remembrance.