In remembrance: The Flanders poppy

Intricately bound with both national and local acts of commemoration for the war dead is the symbol of the red Flanders poppy. Adopted after the First World War as the official emblem of the Royal British Legion, which today is the nation's de facto custodian of remembrance, the poppy continues to encapsulate a conglomerate of ideas and strong sentiments. This article, which is partly based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out around Ypres, Belgium, the Somme region in France, and in London, seeks to explore the various factors that have enabled the poppy to become a lasting and universally respected symbol of remembrance for the war dead. It will also examine its current role in the rituals of remembrance and consider some of the debates and controversies that surround its cluster of values and continuing symbolic power.