A MURAL by local street artist Giffy Duminy showing three poppies, was painted on the wall of the SA Legion building in Umbilo Road last week, to commemorate Remembrance Day.
Johann Kruger from the SA Legion said it was decided to have the mural painted at this time, to draw attention to the fact that so many soldiers have gone before us, some have made the ultimate sacrifice, so that we may enjoy the freedom that we know today.
The red poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is mentioned in history from the earliest times and has become the symbol of remembrance for fallen comrades.
This is explained by the simple phenomenon that the poppy’s seed can lie dormant for extremely long periods and, once exposed to sunlight, the seeds sprout and grow in abundance.
Therefore vast carpets of poppies have naturally and poignantly bloomed on the churned and bloodied earth of battlefields through the ages.
Genghis Khan’s battlefields were covered with the white Asian poppy and battlefields during the Napoleonic War were covered in red poppies.
Fields of poppies appeared in Flanders and elsewhere during World War 1 and inspired many anthems, songs and poems, including Lt Col John McCrae’s now famous poem, “In Flanders Fields”.
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After the Great War, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide were unemployed, incapacitated and bereft as a result of war. In the UK in 1921, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium and France, formed the (Royal) British Legion to assist the men and women who served with him in battle.
A group of French vererans’ widows suggested to him that the Legion sell French-made silk poppies to raise funds to support the British veterans. He ordered nine million of these poppies and sold them on 11 November 1921.
And so the tradition of wearing a red poppy in remembrance gained momentum. It is now common practise in many countries, including South Africa.
The South African Legion distributes poppies in aid of military veterans and their families every year in November.
Recently, a purple poppy has been introduced, representing all animals that served and were sacrificed in war.
On Giffy’s mural the red and purple poppy is depicted so that we do not forget the various animals, who had no choice in going to war and still some paid the ultimate price in conflicts which were not of their making.
Another element that was brought in to the mural is the knot in the stem of one of the plants. A knot is normally used as an aid to remembering various things, so it was included for that reason.
Commenting on the mural, Giffy said: “I painted these Poppy flowers to commemorate the fallen animals and soldiers in tragic wars in the past. The mural is a symbol of the loss in wars and a reminder of how any government should never, ever again send animal or human lives to die for political differences. The flowers in red are in remembrance of the soldiers and the purple flower is in remembrance of the animals who died for human squabbles. Each flower has a big droplet on a petal which represents the collective tears shed due to war. There is a knot tied in a stem to remember this.”
The wall that the mural is on is part of BESL Court, which is owned and managed by the SA Legion and provides subsidised accommodation for SA Legion members. Speaking about the mural, Bryan Dore, chairman of the Durban branch, said: “The spirit of the SA Legion reaches ever skyward.”
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