Remembrance Day.

Every year on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month Canada remembers its heroes with a moment of silence. Canadians across the country are wearing a poppy (the flower of remembrance) as a symbol that they honor those that fought and gave their life for the future of Canada. The first celebration of this day was on November the 11th 1919, one year after the official end of First World War. It was celebrated throughout the entire western world to honor the heroes of this ugly war. The poppy tradition comes from the poem "In Flanders Fields" written by the Canadian Medical Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae (born in Guelph Ontario, only 20 Km North-East of Kitchener-Waterloo area). John McCrae was inspired by the fact that only the poppy flower survived the bloodshed of the bloodiest battle of the First World War that took place in the Flanders fields in Belgium. As per this source, "In Flanders Fields" became the most popular poem of the First World War.

"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...."

If you want to read more follow the links on this page: http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=links.