[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > I could swear that while growing up on the Caribbean Island of > St.Lucia,we had a holiday called Poppy Day and we actually sold > poppies. Obviously,it must have been a British thing.Is this same as > Armistice day or Veterans day as celebrated today in the U.S? And why > a poppy flower? Anything to do with opium? Poppies are the primary symbol of Remembrance Day (Nov 11) as it is known in Canada. The reason has to do with a Canadian soldier-doctor-poet John McCrae who wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields" in honor of the dead at the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 (see http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm for the poems full text). In this battle, at which the Germans introduced mustard gas into their arsenal, about 100,000 men were killed on both sides. McCrae was died of pneumonia in 1918, before the end of the war.
Regards, Christopher "Hippocampus" Green York U. Toronto --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
