Poppies ... when to wear them?
Discussion
WTF is going on with the BBC? Everyone is wearing bloody poppies and we're not even out of October yet FFS! Poppies are to be worn on Rememberance Sunday and 11th November. It seems that the bloody BBC start wearing them earlier and earlier every year, almost like they're trying to outdo everyone else. "Ooh, look at us, we're so much more respectful that you!".
I shall purchase and wear my poppy and show due respect and reverence at the appropriate time. I shall not be wearing it too early or past the appropriate time because, IMHO, to do so devalues its significance and therefore the occasion.
Right... what's the rest of the day got in store... oh yeah.. MOTO GP later.
I shall purchase and wear my poppy and show due respect and reverence at the appropriate time. I shall not be wearing it too early or past the appropriate time because, IMHO, to do so devalues its significance and therefore the occasion.
Right... what's the rest of the day got in store... oh yeah.. MOTO GP later.
I'm sure it always used to be just the week leading up to rememberance Sunday!? Does seem like the BBC feel the need to be the first!The RBL launched the annual appeal last Thursday.
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/news/index.cfm?fus...
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/news/index.cfm?fus...
Looks like the "correct" period to wear the poppy is from All Souls Day (2nd November) until Rememberance Sunday itself (second Sunday in November).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6085132.stm
As I said earlier, IMHO, wearing the poppy too far outside of those times (like now, still in October) is pretentious and detracts from the significance of the act. Still, each to their own.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6085132.stm
As I said earlier, IMHO, wearing the poppy too far outside of those times (like now, still in October) is pretentious and detracts from the significance of the act. Still, each to their own.
Strangely Brown said:
Looks like the "correct" period to wear the poppy is from All Souls Day (2nd November) until Rememberance Sunday itself (second Sunday in November).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6085132.stm
As I said earlier, IMHO, wearing the poppy too far outside of those times (like now, still in October) is pretentious and detracts from the significance of the act. Still, each to their own.
Interestingly, last weekend at our local shopping centre, the Salvation Army were out shaking tins. No problem with that, but the stickers they were issuing did look suspiciously similar to poppies in design..... and the monies collected were for the Savlation Army rather than Haig/RBLhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6085132.stm
As I said earlier, IMHO, wearing the poppy too far outside of those times (like now, still in October) is pretentious and detracts from the significance of the act. Still, each to their own.
As a small aside, for those younger readers who may not know quite what all the fuss is about...
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The Larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up the quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' fields.
One of the most asked questions is: why poppies? The answer is simple: poppies only flower in rooted up soil. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, and only when someone roots up the ground, they will sprout. There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before.
Poppies are the perfect symbol for Remembrance Day, which is November 11. From time immemorial they have been regarded traditionally as flowers of slumber and forgetfulness, but now they have become a national emblem of Remembrance.
Many thousands of years ago the ancient Greeks forged a legend regarding poppies and sleep. In this legend they likened the heads of dying warriors to the drooping poppies of the field. They even made crowns of poppies to be placed on the heads of those who had died - a symbol of perfect sleep.
However, it was the publication of these three simple verses which have been called "the greatest poem of Britain occasioned by the First World War" which firmly established the poppy as the international flower of respect and pride to be worn each year on Armistice Day.
The poem was called "In Flanders Fields" and was written by a doctor who was also a soldier and poet. He witnessed much of the trench warfare of the time and wrote his immortal poem on a page torn from a dispatch book which lay near him.
Dr John McCrae was born of Scottish parents who emigrated to Canada . . . His medical career was interrupted when he enlisted as a doctor with the Canadian troops so that by September 1914 he had been posted to France to care for wounded soldiers.
After writing his poem, he sent his verses to "Punch" magazine were they appeared on December 8th 1915. However, the poem was not to remain unknown for long as it was recognized it was born in the heat of the battle and that it had an enduring quality.
Dr. John McCrae was not to see the end of the War. He was wounded in May 1918 becoming a patient in his own hospital near the French coast where, suffering from pneumonia, he died three days later.
ETA: The explanatory text was not written by me but by Chuck Maddox who, sadly, passed away in May this year.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The Larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up the quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' fields.
One of the most asked questions is: why poppies? The answer is simple: poppies only flower in rooted up soil. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, and only when someone roots up the ground, they will sprout. There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before.
Poppies are the perfect symbol for Remembrance Day, which is November 11. From time immemorial they have been regarded traditionally as flowers of slumber and forgetfulness, but now they have become a national emblem of Remembrance.
Many thousands of years ago the ancient Greeks forged a legend regarding poppies and sleep. In this legend they likened the heads of dying warriors to the drooping poppies of the field. They even made crowns of poppies to be placed on the heads of those who had died - a symbol of perfect sleep.
However, it was the publication of these three simple verses which have been called "the greatest poem of Britain occasioned by the First World War" which firmly established the poppy as the international flower of respect and pride to be worn each year on Armistice Day.
The poem was called "In Flanders Fields" and was written by a doctor who was also a soldier and poet. He witnessed much of the trench warfare of the time and wrote his immortal poem on a page torn from a dispatch book which lay near him.
Dr John McCrae was born of Scottish parents who emigrated to Canada . . . His medical career was interrupted when he enlisted as a doctor with the Canadian troops so that by September 1914 he had been posted to France to care for wounded soldiers.
After writing his poem, he sent his verses to "Punch" magazine were they appeared on December 8th 1915. However, the poem was not to remain unknown for long as it was recognized it was born in the heat of the battle and that it had an enduring quality.
Dr. John McCrae was not to see the end of the War. He was wounded in May 1918 becoming a patient in his own hospital near the French coast where, suffering from pneumonia, he died three days later.
ETA: The explanatory text was not written by me but by Chuck Maddox who, sadly, passed away in May this year.
Edited by Strangely Brown on Sunday 26th October 11:46
There's an advisory note in the boxes that come out from RBL that says exactly when poppies should be sold from and till each year, this year it was from early last week when the RBL officially launched the appeal in Basra but the odd thing is when the appeal ends there should be no active collections after the 8th Nov and all static boxes should be removed by the 10th! Which seems odd that you shouldn't be able to buy a poppy on the morning of the 11th!
This year I will be in Oman & Dubai for remeberance Sunday and the 11th which will be odd to see the Arab feeling towards the wearing of poppies, taking not only into account the current climate but also the fact that in the not so distant past the number of British serviceman who lost their lives fighting in Oman, I suspect it will be an odd compromise of rememberance but in a non Christian display of such.
This year I will be in Oman & Dubai for remeberance Sunday and the 11th which will be odd to see the Arab feeling towards the wearing of poppies, taking not only into account the current climate but also the fact that in the not so distant past the number of British serviceman who lost their lives fighting in Oman, I suspect it will be an odd compromise of rememberance but in a non Christian display of such.
uriel said:
How come they said Poppy Appeal now instead of Haig Fund?
Because modern fashion is to denigrate all previous people associated with 'Britishness'. See 'left wing apologists' etc. Haig is the name most associated with 'sending millions to their deaths', but the fact remains that that was the war was in those days. Nowadays it seems that 'wars' are conducted by a few hundred men and if one of them gets hurt, it makes the headlines. Interestingly the blame that our culture now demands never lands on the person who pulled the trigger or set the bomb off...What also annoys me is that a poppy should be worn on a jacket/coat lapel like a button hole. Pissed me off to see the presenters on the moto gp wearing thm on their shirts. Strikes me of the look at how caring we are. Especially as they will have been taken to Spain by aproduction assisstant and given to the presenters just before going on air.
ks I just put the money in the box and leave it at that.The whole thing bugs me slightly, too. I am a serving member of the RAMC and have had colleagues die on me in both Iraq and Afghanistan, so this topic is close to my heart. Where I have the problem is that injured soldiers and their families have to rely on charitable handouts to have a semblance of a normal life again.
Still, I give more to help the heroes and the poppy appeal than any other charidee. I may need them one day!
Still, I give more to help the heroes and the poppy appeal than any other charidee. I may need them one day!
I have also noticed that the poppies have started very early this year, particularly with the BBC. I wonder if it is going to go the way of Christmas, with the supermarkets starting in August, and the TV adverts starting in September. Already had a full month of being bombarded with Christmas marketing.
At least the poppies are worthwhile though, if they're early.
At least the poppies are worthwhile though, if they're early.
Strangely Brown said:
There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil.
Maddox wasnt wrong there: 
This Picture is of the British Front Line taken by a German Observer from a ballon.
zoom in where the A is - thats the only humanity in shot.
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