Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day or Armistice Day is a day of commemoration observed in the British Commonwealth 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 soldiers that were killed during war.

Common British, Canadian 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).

In Britain, although two minutes silence is often observed on the correct day, the main observance is on the Sunday nearest the 11 November, Remembrance Sunday, when ceremonies are held at local communities' War Memorials, usually organized by local branches of the Royal British Legion - an association for ex-serviceman.

In Canada, the day is a government holiday, though not a statutory public holiday for private businesses.

Veterans Day is celebrated in the United States on the same date, but the function of the observance is more closely matched in the US by Memorial Day. In the United States and some other allied nations this was formerly known as Armistice Day; in the USA it was given its new name after the end of World War II.

See In Flanders' Fields.