Poppies for ANZAC Day
Each year, the Halcombe ANZAC Day committee makes and sells ceramic poppies as part of their commemoration. The poppies form part of the display around the War Memorial and are then sold to raise funds for future ANZAC Day events.
The community is invited to help make the poppies in a series of fun working-bees early each year. Many people make poppies to honour members of their own family that have served or been killed in action. Watch for notices about the next poppy-making event on Facebook or in Halcombe community emails. Why poppies?Red poppies, made of paper or light fabric, have long been worn at ANZAC Day as a mark of respect to those that have died while serving their country in war.
"The poppy has its origins in the early twentieth century, when red or Flanders poppies bloomed over the battlefields and graves of soldiers in France and Belgium. The poppy is now the undisputed symbol of remembrance." Quoted from army.mil.nz |
"The poppy has a long association with Remembrance Day. But how did the distinctive red flower become such a potent symbol of our remembrance of the sacrifices made in past wars? Scarlet corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas) grow naturally in conditions of disturbed earth throughout Western Europe. The destruction brought by the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th Century transformed bare land into fields of blood red poppies, growing around the bodies of the fallen soldiers. In late 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders were once again ripped open as World War One raged through Europe's heart. Once the conflict was over the poppy was one of the only plants to grow on the otherwise barren battlefields. The significance of the poppy as a lasting memorial symbol to the fallen was realized by the Canadian surgeon John McCrae in his poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy came to represent the immeasurable sacrifice made by his comrades and quickly became a lasting memorial to those who died in World War One and later conflicts. It was adopted by The Royal British Legion as the symbol for their Poppy Appeal, in aid of those serving in the British Armed Forces, after its formation in 1921."
Quoted from www.bbc.co.uk
Quoted from www.bbc.co.uk
In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae
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. |