 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2021) |
| Remembrance Sunday | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The Cenotaph at Whitehall, London on Remembrance Sunday 2024 | |
| Official name | Remembrance Sunday |
| Observed by | United Kingdom |
| Liturgical color | (Red or green, or purple for a Requiem Eucharist) |
| Type | International |
| Observances | Parades, silences |
| Date | Second Sunday in November |
| 2023 date | November 12 |
| 2024 date | November 10 |
| 2025 date | November 9 |
| 2026 date | November 8 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Remembrance Day and Armistice Day |
Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts.[1] It is held on the second Sunday in November (the Sunday nearest to 11 November, Armistice Day,[2] the anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War I in 1918). Remembrance Sunday, within the Church of England, falls in the liturgical period of Allsaintstide.[3]
It is marked by ceremonies at local war memorials in most cities, towns and villages, attended by civic dignitaries, ex-servicemen and -women (many are members of the Royal British Legion and other veterans' organisations), members of local armed forces regular and reserve units (Royal Navy and Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines and Royal Marines Reserve, Army and Territorial Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Auxiliary Air Force), military cadet forces (Sea Cadet Corps, Army Cadet Force and Air Training Corps as well as the Combined Cadet Force) and youth organisations (e.g. Scouts, Boys' Brigade, Girls' Brigade and Guides). Representatives of the Judiciary also lay wreaths at local war memorials throughout the country. Wreaths of remembrance poppies are laid on the memorials, and two minutes' silence is held at 11 am. Church bells are usually rung half-muffled, creating a sombre effect. The overall ceremony, including parades, service and wreath laying, typically lasts about two hours.
- ^ "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Department for Culture Media and Sport – remembrance sunday". Retrieved 10 November 2010.
- ^ These two statements are in effect the same: the second Sunday is always between 8 and 14 November inclusive, so the second Sunday is no more than three days away from 11 November, and therefore always the Sunday nearest to 11 November.
- ^ "All Saints' Tide". Services and Prayers for the Season from All Saints to Candlemas. General Synod of the Church of England.
For many twentieth-century Christians the All Saints-tide period is extended to include Remembrance Sunday. In the Calendar and Lectionary we have sought to make it easier to observe this without cutting across a developing lectionary pattern, and we have reprinted the form of service approved ecumenically for use on that day.