Remembrance Day, the day observed annually in honor of all those, living and dead, who served in the armed forces. In Britain, Remembrance Day falls on the Sunday nearest November 11.

 Before World War II, it was known as Armistice Day since it was on this day in 1918 that World War I (1914-1918) ended. The day now commemorates those who died in the two world wars and at 11 A.M. a two-minute silence is observed (it was at this hour that fighting stopped on November 11, 1918, six hours after the armistice was signed in Compiègne, France). In Britain, in the weeks preceding Remembrance Day, artificial poppies (recalling the poppy fields of Flanders) are sold by volunteer representatives of the British Legion in aid of ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen, hence the alternative name of Poppy Day for Remembrance Day. 

There are special church services and wreath-laying ceremonies at war memorials, the most famous of which is at the Cenotaph in London where the monarch, accompanied by members of the Royal Family, lays wreaths, along with the Prime Minister and leaders of the opposition parties.

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