11-11: Poppy Day and Pepero Day

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On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month people around the world are asked to pause and remember the thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives fighting for freedom and democracy during the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict, the Iraq war, during peacekeeping missions and other conflicts everywhere..

Referred to as Remembrance Day throughout countries of the Commonwealth (countries originally colonised by the British) and as Veterans Day in the US, is a time for us all t pause and reflect on the terrible human costs of war – for both military and civilian populations . Originally called Armistice Day, the day commemorated the end of the First World War – “The War to End All Wars” - on Monday, November. 11, 1918, at 11 a.m. — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Remembrance Day Poppy
In Canada and as one can see on the BBC, the UK, the poppy is the official symbol of remembrance and is worn during the two weeks prior to November 11. The poppy’s significance to Remembrance Day is a result the World War I poem In Flanders Field.  The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders, their red colour an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed on the battlefields.  Allegedly, a writer first made the connection between the poppy and battlefield deaths during the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, remarking that fields that were barren before battle exploded with the blood-red flowers after the fighting ended. Just prior to the First World War, few Poppies grew in Flanders. During the tremendous bombardments of that war, the chalk soils became rich in lime from rubble, allowing “popaver rhoes” to thrive. When the war ended, the lime was quickly absorbed and the Poppy began to disappear again.

Pepero Day
The information above is for those of our Korean readers who are wondering why some ‘foreigners’ have red paper flowers pinned to their lapels. And for our foreign readers, here’s why you’re seeing Pepero (빼빼로) advertising in stores and why you may receive these chocolate, sesame flavoured, sticks. Because the date is 11.11, which looks like 4 sticks, it has become a tradition in Korea to offer these stick ‘cookies’ to family, friends and colleagues on November 11th. The day Koreans commemorate the men and women who have died while in military service or in the country’s independence movement is June 6th.

Remembrance Day Service in Seoul
In Seoul, there will be a Remembrance Service on Sunday 8 November at the Anglican Cathedral. For more details, click here.

POEM - In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
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.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae, Canadian Military Physician (1872 - 1918)

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