Poppies have long been used as a symbol of sleep, peace, and death: Sleep because the opium extracted from them is a sedative, and death because of the common blood-red color of the red poppy in particular. In Greek and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead.
[4] Poppies used as emblems on
tombstones symbolize eternal sleep. This symbolism was evoked in the children's novel
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists sleep forever.
[4]
The
poppy of wartime remembrance is
Papaver rhoeas, the red-flowered corn poppy. This poppy is a common
weed in Europe and is found in many locations; including
Flanders, which is the setting of the famous poem "
In Flanders Fields," by the Canadian surgeon and soldier
John McCrae. In Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, artificial poppies (plastic in Canada, paper in the UK, Australia, South Africa, Malta and New Zealand) are worn to commemorate those who died in war. This form of commemoration is associated with
Remembrance Day, which falls on November 11. In Canada, Australia and the UK, poppies are often worn from the beginning of November through to the 11th, or Remembrance Sunday if that falls on a later date. In New Zealand and Australia, soldiers are commemorated on ANZAC day (April 25),
[7] although the poppy is still commonly worn around Remembrance Day. Wearing of poppies has been a custom since 1924 in the United States. Miss
Moina Michael of Georgia is credited as the founder of the Memorial Poppy in the United States.
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