Have you had a child ask you about Remembrance Day
recently? I have, and although I know
the basics, I wanted to give a full reflection of what it is about. So I turned to the internet in search of a
child friendly explanation of what the day is about and how it came to be, and
I must say I really struggled to find an appropriate account. So if you are in the same position maybe this
would help.
Remembrance Day is also known as Armistice Day, and is commemorated
every year on 11th November, to mark the armistice signed between
the Allies of World War I and Germany. An
armistice is a formal agreement between warring sides to stop fighting.
World War I started in 1914 and ended in 1918, and this year
marks 100 years since the start of the war.
Each year, at 11am on 11th November, the country
holds a two minute silence as a mark of respect and remembrance for all
soldiers who lost their lives through war.
The tradition of the silence was introduced four days before the first
anniversary of World War I by King George V, when he announced that a two
minute would be observed.
Remembrance Sunday, is a day to remember British and
Commonwealth soldiers who died during the two World Wars and all wars after
these. Remembrance Sunday is held on the
second Sunday in November, and ceremonies are held at local war memorials in
most cities and towns where wreaths of remembrance poppies are laid on the
memorials and a two minute silence is held.
A national ceremony is held on Remembrance Sunday at a war memorial
in London called The Cenotaph. During
this ceremony poppy wreaths are laid by the British Royal family along with the
Prime Minister and leaders of other major political parties, the Foreign
Secretary, the Commonwealth High Commissioner and representatives from the Army,
Navy and the Air Force. The two minute silence
at this ceremony begins by the firing of a field gun on Horse Guards Parade
with the sound of a bugle call, and is ended with a second bugle call.
In 1921 a senior British officer called Field Marshall
Douglas Haig and the Royal British Legion took the poppy emblem as a symbol of remembrance. Known today as the Poppy Appeal, paper poppies
are made in The Poppy Factory in Richmond, London, and are sold by members
of the Royal British Legion. The money
raised by this appeal goes to support ex-servicemen and their families who are
in need.
