As we near Remembrance Day there is a tradition here that involves school children. It is a ceremony called No Stone Left Alone. It involves children placing poppies on the graves of veterans.
On the last school day before there holiday children gather at all of the military cemeteries across the city. With the aid of members of the Armed forces they make their way around the grave stones and place a Poppy on the top of it.
This cemetery is across from where I work so I took the time to go and watch. As much as I enjoyed the formal ceremony I really liked watching the children making their way around the cemetery.
I really liked this shot as it captured the one young fellow about to place his poppy and he really seems like he is enjoying the moment.
Tomorrow I will post a shot of the formal ceremony that took place just prior to this
What a lovely thing to be doing - even if the children don't fully understand, they will have memories of placing poppies and understand the significance when they are older.
What a wonderful tradition and so nice that the children are taught from an early age how important it is to remember our fallen soldiers who fought for peace.... ♥
What wonderful life-long lessons for children! Honor the sacrifice, be reverent at appropriate times, know the real cost of war, sense of belonging as a citizen . . .
A lovely capture of a lovely event, fav. Reminds me a bit of the Netherlands, where each school child is given a war grave to look after throughout his or her school days. Of course many of the graves are Canadian, since Canada played such a large part in the liberation of Holland. The Dutch, bless them, have remained very grateful for that, and the Canadian national anthem is even part of the Dutch school curriculum. Canadian children should be raised with more knowledge of, and respect for what out veterans have done. This activity in your picture is a great example of an effort in that direction.
So nice to see the kids involved. It's a great tradition for them and such a wonderful way for them to learn about the history of Canada and the true meaning of Remembrance Day. (The day here is called Veteran's Day.... same thing)
