On Remembrance Rituals

[dewline]

I was at an open lecture at Carleton last night discussing monuments and memorials. The guest lecturer of the evening, Karen Franck, observed with mild surprise that in recent years in the States, she didn't see poppies as part of the Veterans Day rituals...as opposed to her observations of people in Ottawa.

Comments

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

I have never seen Poppies as part of a Veterans Day ritual in the US. It took me awhile to figure out what they were when I visited Canada.

In the US, because we're such nationalistic, jingoistic, self-absorbed Mofos, it's always the US Flag.

I also think that because of the War on Drugs (tm), nobody want to be remotely associated with opium poppies.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Points well taken.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Poppies are more commonly done on Memorial Day in the U.S. The reasons for this are a bit complicated, but the general principle is that Memorial Day commemorates veterans who died in service, while Veterans Day honors all veterans.

Memorial Day originated after the U.S. Civil War. It is odd that the Armistice Day poppy tradition migrated there, I suppose, but the gravitational pull of "remembering dead military with flowers" was just too strong, maybe. (Memorial Day is in late May, and was called "Decoration Day" in the past because of the traditions of putting wreaths and flowers on graves and monuments.)

In the U.S., both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion do poppies, which are crafted by veterans with disabilities.