> > > > Canadians have a "Remember the Canadians who were in wars" day, but it's called, more appropriately, "Rememberance Day". It falls on November 11th, the same day as the American Veterans' Day. They give us a day off of school for it. If you want to look cool, you wear a plastic poppy as Rememberance Day approaches to show (somehow) that your remember the Canadians who were in wars...when it's actually Rememberance day, though, you're at home asleep or playing computer games, so nobody cares whether you wear a poppy or not!
>
> > Poppies as a symbol of war remembrance date back to World War I, via this famous poem, written by John McRae in 1915.
>
> > In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
> > 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 our 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.
>
> Cool...they used to recite this poem every Rememberance Day in elementary school. But somehow I got the impression that the poem was written /recently/ -- /after/ the custom of wearing poppies on Rememberance Day had already been established.
>
> Actually, I vaguely remember thinking at one point that the poem was written by somebody who had gone to my elementary school, and that the reason they kept reciting it was to reinforce the fact that somebody from that school had gone on to become a famous poet! (I think the reason that I was confused was because they were making a big deal of the fact that the person /reading/ the poem was from our elementary school.)
>
> So it was poem first, poppy custom afterwards? Okay...now it makes more sense.
>
> -SB

That's right. Our equivalent day in New Zealand is ANZAC Day, which covers all wars we've been involved in, but has always had a strong WWI focus. It is named for the ANZAC (Australia/New Zealand Army Corps) troops that went to World War I, and particularly relates to the Gallipoli campaign, which has a place in our national consciousness equivalent to Vietnam for Americans. In addition, it's often seen as the focal event of our history which gave New Zealand a sense of nationhood instead of seeing ourselves as a colony of Britain.

Because the poppy symbol is from World War I and so much of our ANZAC Day observance is also connected to New Zealand's involvement in that war, I associated the two in my mind as a New Zealand thing. I was interested to learn that it happens in Canada too. Do other countries also use the poppy on their days of remembrance, or is it restricted to Commonwealth nations?