On the11thhour of the11thday of the11thmonth, Canadians are asked to take two minutes to pause and reflect on wars past and the soldiers who lost their lives. This memorial day has been observed since the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, marking the official end of World War I.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Most people wear a poppy leading up Remembrance Day, which symbolizes The fields of Flanders in Belgium, where some of the worst battles of the war took place.
- The Royal Canadian Legion advises that poppies be worn on the left lapel, as close to the heart as possible.
- Remembrance Day is observed in all the Commonwealth countries. November 11 is also Veteran’s Day in the United States, which commemorates the veterans who returned home from the war.
- The poppy became the symbol for remembrance thanks to the world’s most famous war poem, “In Flanders Field,” by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. It took John McCrae all of 20 minutes to write it. Though he later threw the poem away, it was retrieved by a fellow officer and published in the English magazine “Punch” in December 1915.