Ode to the poppy

The poppy has been an international symbol of remembrance since the 19th century Napoleonic Wars, over 110 years before it was adopted by Canada. A record from the time reflects on how the destruction wrought by war transformed bare land into fields of blood-red flowers which grew around the bodies of fallen soldiers.

Scarlet poppies (popaver rhoeas), long known as the corn poppy because it flourished as a weed in grain fields, grew abundantly in the trenches of the war zone. Artillery shells and shrapnel stirred up the earth and exposed the seeds to the light they needed to germinate. While the seeds of the flower can remain dormant for years, they are known to blossom spectacularly once the soil is churned.

The poppy became a lasting memorial to the fallen in Canada and the Commonwealth due largely to Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian Medical Officer during the First World War. During the Battle of Ypres in 1915, Lt.-Col. McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields when he saw poppies growing beside a grave of a close friend who had died in battle.

While the poppy has become a modern symbol of sacrifice, its legend reaches back thousands of years. The flower has been found in Egyptian tombs dating back 3,000 years. Homer mentions poppies in the Iliad when he compares the head of a dying warrior to that of a hanging poppy flower.

And in ancient Greece, poppies were considered sacred to Hypnos, the god of sleep. Ancient imagery depicts Hypnos with poppies in his hands and crowning his head. The doorway to his temple was also decorated with poppy blossoms. Hypnos was thought to bring prophetic dreams and relief to those suffering from grief or emotional pain.