Remembrance Day is observed in many Commonwealth countries (the countries that were part of the British Empire), to remember those who died in war or served in the military. Canadians have celebrated it all over Canada each year on November 11 since November 11, 1931. Remembrance Day is the anniversary of the Armistice agreement of 1918 that ended the First World War. The conflict is known as ‘the war to end all wars.’ The battle that preceded the peace agreement, took the lives of 61,000 Canadians.
Public ceremonies and church services are often held on November 11. First of all, “Last Post,” a reading of the fourth stanza of the poem “For the Fallen” is played. Also, people honour the dead with two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. People lay wreaths at war memorials and schools hold assemblies. Millions of Canadians wear red poppy pins in the weeks leading up to and on 11 November in remembrance.
Symbols of Remembrance Day
The phrase ‘Lest we forget,’ which means ‘so that we don’t forget’ was first used in The Bible, Deuteronomy 6:12, but, in its current form, we can trace it back to Kipling’s poem: ‘Recessional.’
The poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ by Canadian John McCrae is inextricably linked to Remembrance Day. The poppies, as McCrae noticed, were the first signs of life around the fresh graves. He supposedly wrote the poem in twenty minutes during the Battle of Ypres. England’s Punch magazine published the poem in 1915. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae died of pneumonia in 1919 and was buried in France at Wimereux Cemetery.
The poppy has become a symbol of Remembrance Day thanks to John McCrae.
Origin of Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day may have taken its origin from Decoration Day and Paardeberg Day.
The first Decoration Day took place in 1890 when veterans of the Battle of Ridgeway (2 June 1866) protested at the Canadian Volunteers Monument at Queen’s Park, Toronto against the Canadian government not acknowledging the deaths of nine Canadian soldiers in the battle. They laid flowers at the foot of the monument on the 24th anniversary of the battle. Since then, they celebrated Decoration Day for the next 30 years on the weekend closest to June 2. Soon, the day expended to honouring those who died in North-West Resistance, the South African War (1899–1902) and World War I.
Another celebration for soldiers who died overseas was the Paardeberg Day. It was held on 27 February and it celebrated Canada’s first military victory in the Battle of Paardeberg in 1900 during South African War.
Remembrance Day, as we know it today, became an official holiday by two Holidays Act of 1970 and 1985.
The Royal Canadian Legion sells about 20 million poppies a year to raise money for veterans.
