The familiar red poppy has been a symbol of remembrance in New Zealand for 101 years but oddly we are an outlier. While we wear poppies to remember the fallen on Anzac Day, you will see poppy sellers on the streets in England, Canada and Australia in November to mark Armistice Day.

The reason comes down to the length of time it used to take to get to NZ.

The poppies were originally made by widows and orphans in France and the ship bringing them to New Zealand arrived too late to sell them for Armistice Day in 1921.

Instead, the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RSA) decided to hold them over until ANZAC Day in 1922, a decision that set up our own unique Poppy Day. The first Poppy Day, April 24, 1922, was a “brilliant success” with many centres selling out of their supply of poppies.

The New Zealand RSA originally imported silk poppies from France until 1927 and then from the Royal British Legion. Today the poppies are manufactured by volunteers in Christchurch, and it is an almost year-long job to make the close to one million poppies required for the Poppy appeal.

The poppy we wear has also been through a number of design changes since the first silk ones, to the flat felt and then paper poppy that is sold today.

The poppy is worn around the world in remembrance, but the red colour has no relevance to blood. The poppy symbolises the wildflowers that were the first signs of life to grow in the turned soil of French and Belgium cemeteries. The poppies with their red, paper-thin petals were the only things to take root in the lime-rich soils contaminated by the battlefield debris.

Poppy Day has been the RSA’s major annual fundraiser for 101 years to provide welfare services for war veterans of all ages. It is held on the closest Friday to ANZAC Day.

This year it was held on Friday April 21, 2023.