Ancientgeezer

Today was Remembrance Sunday and coincided with Armistice Day. 11 a.m. of the 11th day of the 11th month marked the end of hostilities on the Western Front in WW1 and is commemorated throughout the Commonwealth and beyond with commemorative services of Remembrance.
The services to honour the dead of WW1, WW2 and subsequent conflicts take place in cities, towns and villages throughout the world, but the biggest is in London where the centre of commemoration is the Cenotaph in Whitehall.
This year, 2012, over ninety years after the first ceremony, some 500,000 people descended on central London and over 200,000 took part in a march past of veterans to honour the fallen.
Wreaths were placed on the Cenotaph by the Queen, members of the Royal family representing each of the Armed Services and by High Comissioners of every member of the Commonwealth ( except Zimbabwe, although a private wreath was placed by the Rhodesian ex-servicemen’s association.)
Over 233 ex-military and civil defence associations competed for tickets to join the march past, while most are based in Britain they included delegations from commonwealth countries, France, Poland and the American Legion.
The Muslims, the Jews and others seemed to have no objection to a profoundly Anglican and Christian religious service, nor did members of the Commonwealth representing the Old Empire object to the overtly Imperial trappings of Union Jacks, British regiments and non-stop martial and patriotic music.
At the core of the event was the honouring of those people killed as a result of war, whether in the Great Wars of in Afghanistan last week, but it also is a celebration of service to an ideal—one that does not appear ready to fade away.
A major feature of Remembrance Day is the use of poppies, both worn by the public and used as wreaths. Astonishingly, this tradition was started by an American.
In 1918, American YWCA worker Moina Michael, inspired by a poem by Canadian veteran, Col. John McCrae, published a poem of her own called "We Shall Keep the Faith" She vowed to always wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in the war. At a November 1918 YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference, she appeared with a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed 25 more to those attending.
One of her silk poppies was sent to Field Marshal Earl Haig who had founded the British legion—the ex-serviceman’s league and he quickly adopted it and thus it spread to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Once a year, the Empire, with flags and music, still lives.

pikeshot1600

geezer,

The 'Empire' still lives anyway. The form and formalities are different, that is all.

The Sun never sets on the Anglosphere.

Stephy

Oh right, carnival season began today I almost forgot

Don't through potatoes at me please I couldn't help myself

OccamsRazor

Thank you Ancientgeezer for a splendid post.

The traditions of the Remembrance day parade also remain unchanged to the present day, even down to the music and prayers of the service and where the dignitaries stand.
The faces may change, but the sentiiments do not.

OccamsRazor

Do they not have anything like this in Germany?
I mean, remembrance of the fallen of course?
If not, why not?

Stephy

Oh they do but only one and it's not a public holiday, it's called "Volkstrauertag"(people's mourning day) and it's a little different from armistice day. We generally don't have a memorial day for our fallen soldiers but rather a day to mourn all the lives the wars have cost.
Volkstrauertag commemorates all those who died in armed conflicts or as the victims of violent oppression.

To differentiate it from Heldengedenktag (established in 1934 and later misused by the Nazis who put the emphasis on hero worship rather than remembering the dead), the holiday moved from February the 27th to the second Sunday before Advent, or mid-November.

On November the 11th at 11.11am carnival season (the 5th season) starts in Germany.

OccamsRazor

At the risk of sounding anti-German, is Volkstrauertag a way of commemorating the sacrifices made by a nation's youth without making any reference to two particular wars in general?

So when is Rosa Montag this season then?

Stephy

Ehmmm no I don't think so. Believe me we have several occasions through the year to remind us of both of the wars. Our chancellor was at the armistice celebrations last year together invited by the French president.
Just recently we had 9th of November where we remembered not only the fall of the Berlin wall but also Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom of 1938 that presaged the Holocaust of the Jews and of course the end of WW1.

During Volkstrauertag of course many references are made to both wars and those that died because of them. The holiday, like many postwar commemorations in Germany, stresses solemn reflection on the costs of war—including civilian victims of oppression—rather than glorification of the dead or military combat.
Every year on the National Day of Mourning there is a commemoration ceremony in the German parliament where the President holds a speech and the members of parliament sing the soldier's song “Der gute Kamerad”. There are similar ceremonies at many memorial sites for the victims of the nazi regime.

Rosenmontag is "highlight" of the fifth season before it ends on Aschermittwoch (Ash wednesday). The street carnival starts one week before Rosenmontag. Rosenmontag will be in February.

Crystal Rainbow

I have been watching a documentary about today's army and I think we should remember them as well as its all about war and the veterans still have so many sad stories to tell. This is Jack's story about his memories of Afghanistan 1/4

OccamsRazor

Thanks. I thought so.