There were no poppies on sale in the Irish Republic in my childhood. The same ones were brought out each year, like Christmas tree decorations. They had wire stalks and a small black button in the centre with Haig Fund written on it.
Poppies were worn to our Protestant (Church of Ireland) church on Remembrance Sunday but not in the days leading up to it. Ireland was neutral in the war – indeed, it was ony referred to as The Emergency – but around 60,000 out of a population of only three million served in the British armed forces. My father was among them. After the war they were not feted as heroes. The Irish government discriminated against them and memorials from the First World War were allowed to decay.
Publicly wearing a poppy would get you a dirty look or worse. Sporting a lily on Easter Sunday is another matter. This commemorates the Easter uprising of 1916, still a source of national pride. But times change and Ireland has come to recognise the valour of their citizens who volunteered to fight. A couple of good Presidents and a visit to Ireland by The Queen helped. This year I have been wearing this poppy which a friend brought me from Ireland.
This poppy symbolises the re-set in Anglo-Irish relations. As Scotland seeks to break away it is ironic that rebellious Ireland is drawing closer to Britain.
Yes – there has been a marked increase in the wearing of poppies here in Ireland the last twenty years or so, and they have been on open sale in some shopping centres, but I have yet to see the ‘green’ version. I have never seen anyone wear an Easter lily, unless you count the little adhesive label type badges with a picture of a lily on them. Wearers of these are known colloquially as ‘stickies’!
I think the lily badges that I remember seeing in Drogheda were “stickies”. The expression is new to me – I think of stickies as something sweet drunk after dinner but I like your usage.
Also, I’d like to add that the Irish ambassador in London now lays a wreath at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday; another significant improvement in both Anglo-Irish relations and Ireland’s coming to terms with its history in the 20th century.