Remembrance Day or Armistice Day is a day of commemoration observed in the Commonwealth of Nations and various European countries (including France and Belgium) to commemorate World War I and other wars. It is observed on November 11 to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918. Remembrance Day is specifically dedicated to members of the armed forces who were killed during war.
Common British, Canadian, South African and ANZAC traditions include two minutes' silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month (the time that the armistice became effective), and wearing artificial poppies sold to raise funds for veterans' groups (the Earl Haig Fund in Britain or the Royal Canadian Legion in Canada). The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red color an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare.(Roger,1998) Some people choose to wear white poppies, which emphasizes a desire for peaceful alternatives to military action.
In Canada the day is a holiday for employees of the federal government. However, for private business, provincial governments and schools, its status varies by province. In Western and Atlantic Canada it is a general holiday. In Ontario and Quebec, it is not a general holiday, although corporations which are federally registered may make the day a full holiday, or instead designate a provincially-recognized holiday on a different day........
