The first of the summer’s red poppies has appeared.  These are the ‘soldier’ poppies with the black cross in the centre.

They are a symbolic representation of gratitude to those involved in war.  Homer first linked the poppy with a fallen soldier, around 800BC when he wrote: “And as a poppy, which in the garden is weighed down with fruit and vernal showers, droops its head to one side, so did his head incline aside, depressed by the helmet.”

According to legend, the poppy was created by Somnus, the god of sleep, to help Demeter, the corn goddess, who was so exhausted by the search for her lost daughter Persephone, that she withdrew her energy from the fields.  The poppies soothed her to sleep, and when she was rested the corn grew again, giving rise to the belief that poppies were essential for corn to grow.

This red poppy has…