Poppy Day

Poppy Day, 11 November, is the day when people in Britain remember the soldiers and that died in the First World War (1914-1918), the Second World War (1939-1945) and all other wars since. The first Poppy Day was in 1921. The First World War had ended three years earlier, but it was still very difficult, often impossible, for ex-soldiers in Britain to find emplyment. So some of them started making and selling red paper poppies. They gave the money that they raised to ex-soldiers who were disabled or unemployed and to the families of soldiers who had died. The choice of flower was significant. During the war the soldiers had noticed poppies growing every year on the battlefields in Belgium and the north of France. In the days leading up to Poppy Day about 32 milion people in Britain buy and wear small poppies. Some people choose to wear white poppies because the think that white symbolises peace. Then at 11 a.m. on 11 November (at the moment when the First World War ended) there's a two-minute silence. Many people stop and think quietly about the soldiers who died. There are ceremonies at war memorials in towns and villages all over the country. The most important ceremony is in London, when the Queen and the Prime Minister lay wreaths of poppies at the Cenotaph, a monument to soldiers who died in battle.