The days leading up to November 11 have often been marked by anger, not just at the cost of war, but at the flower used to honour the day.
Poppy politics are at play – over white poppies, red poppies, purple poppies, re-designed poppies, and poppy bans.
Gone are the days where improper poppy etiquette simply meant wearing the flower on your right side rather than the left. Today the poppy market is a veritable minefield of historical and cultural faux pas.
Global News takes a look at the history of the poppy, and the politics that accompany it every November.
History
The red flower has been linked to the remembrance of fallen troops since Canadian soldier John McCrae penned In Flanders Fields. McCrae wrote the now-famous work in 1915 after the death of a fellow soldier during the First World War. Red poppies, which were common in the fields of France and Belgium, lined the cemeteries where soldiers were buried.
An American teacher named Moina Michael read McCrae’s poem in November 1918. Moved by the work, she vowed to honour the fallen by wearing a red poppy from Flanders Fields.
In 1920, a French woman named Madame Guerin learned of the custom, and began selling handmade poppies to support children affected by war.
The Royal Canadian Legion, known as The Great War Veterans’ Association at the time, followed Madame Guerin’s example and adopted the poppy as its “Flower of Remembrance” on July 5, 1921.
The lapel poppies that Canadians wear today were first introduced in 1922. The work to make them provided disabled veterans with an income. Eventually Dominion Command was awarded the contract to produce the poppies, but under the control and supervision of the Legion.
Conflict
The poppy, meant to be a symbol of respect and remembrance, is not without controversy.
Jon Snow, a British newsreader for Channel 4, continues to make headlines when he refused to wear a poppy on air, declaring he would not bow to “poppy fascism.” Snow says that he chooses to wear a poppy in private, and that soldiers died so that people could choose to wear the symbol or not.
In conflict-ridden Northern Ireland, every November the poppy is a reminder of a violent Catholic-Protestant divide. For the most part Protestants are the only Northerners buying the red emblem, honouring those who fight in UK wars.
Recently the poppy has divided fans of a Scottish football club. At a Celtic F.C. game – a team which has a strong Catholic heritage – fans from a group called the Green Brigade unveiled a banner that read “Your deeds would shame all the devils in Hell. Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan. No bloodstained poppy on our Hoops.” The football club has since promised to ban the anti-poppy fans.
This fall a group of Nova Scotia designers nervously released a new red poppy, one that contained seeds in the paper petals, and could be planted in a garden. The poppy is not available for purchase, and is not sanctioned by the Royal Canadian Legion – hence the nerves during the unveiling, as the Legion has been known to fervently defend its poppy trademark. The students from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design made it clear their goal was to redesign the poppy in a respectful way.
Last week a member of the Royal Canadian Legion was stationed outside a Tim Hortons coffee shop in Midland, Ontario when he was told that charities of any kind were not allowed to solicit on the property. Tim Hortons allows donation boxes to the Legion’s poppy fund inside their locations, however they maintain that the policy has always been to disallow solicitors. Nevertheless, the story caused an uproar in the community, and the iconic Canadian chain has since apologized to the Legion volunteer.
In 1933 the Co-operative Women’s Guild introduced the White Peace Poppy to honour all of those killed war, not just British soldiers. The poppy was to represent peace and the end of all wars. Since then various anti-war groups and activists have adopted the white poppy.
Re-igniting the decades old white poppy-red poppy clash, a group in Charlottetown, PEI is facing a potential lawsuit from the Royal Canadian Legion for distributing a white poppy this fall. The Island Peace Committee enlisted volunteers to hand out the white poppy. The Legion says the controversial poppies are disrespectful and a breach of their rightfully owned trademark. A farmers market in Charlottetown has backed the Legion by banning the white poppies.
Purple poppies are worn to commemorate the animals lost during battles and conflicts. During conflicts animals have been used as messengers, for scouting, detection, and rescue, says Animal Aid. The group promotes the wearing of a purple poppy alongside the traditional red poppy to remember the animals killed during war. Thousands of animals are killed on the frontlines, and as bystanders on farms and in zoos. Animals have also died as a result of military testing in laboratories.
Even though groups distributing the white and purple poppies say their flowers may be worn alongside the traditional red poppy, the Royal Canadian Legion has never approved any design other than the crimson, trademarked emblem.
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