Bright red poppies were noticeably displayed on the chests of Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe, and other cast members of the final Harry Potter film at last night's London premiere. Which came as no surprise to anyone who's spent time in the UK over the past two weeks or so. Every year, from the first to the eleventh of November — or Armistice Day — the poppies adorn the coat buttonholes of everyone, from schoolchildren to the Queen, in a tradition started shortly after World War I. Paper poppies are sold and worn (generally for the first eleven days of November), in memory of British and Commonwealth soldiers fallen in war, including latter day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The poppy was chosen, and largely inspired, by the 1915 poem "In Flanders Field" by a Canadian military doctor, John McCrae. In the churned up countryside of Flanders, Belgium, where some of the bloodiest and longest encounters of World War I took place, about the only thing to grow were vast fields of poppies that sprung up even as the shells continued to fall. Supposedly thriving on the lime from the rubble of demolished buildings, the phenomenon was first noticed one hundred years earlier in almost the same spot during the Napoleonic campaigns. The bright red color is, of course, a ready symbol for bloodshed. It's a rare sight in New York, but for a few days a year, it's a handy way to spot a fellow Brit, Canadian, or Australian on the subway.
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