St George's day

The Irish celebrate St Patrick's day with pride and fervour, while the Scottish come together to enjoy Burns night. So why isn't St George's day celebrated with the same passion? Why do the English fail to celebrate our patron saint's day in the same way that our closest neighbours do?

St George was a Roman soldier, born in Cappadocia (Turkey), who protested against the Roman's torture of Christians. He was beheaded on 23rd April 303 at Lydda in Palestine.

St George's emblem, a red cross on a white background, was adopted by Richard The Lion Heart and brought to England in the 12th century.

From the 15th century onwards, St George's Day was celebrated with a major feast in England, very much on a par with Christmas. By the end of the 18th century, this tradition had faded. The popularity of St George's Day appears to have gradually increased in recent years though.

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What Do You Think?

Will you be celebrating St George's day?

Yes

I would if it was a public holiday

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Comments

Added: 27 April 2008 19:47

lyn in RBK says:

I am really saddened at the fact that St Georges day is not celebrated as it should be. Englishmen, be proud of your country and its heritage. We flew a St Georges Flag from the front of our house, so did our son, there were only a few others locally that did the same. we were disappointed that we could not find a st georges day card easily. Where were the flags? where were the celebtrations? I saw very little of either. The Mayor of London should be ashamed of himself for not arranging a better celebration of this day. London is not only the capital of England, it is the capital of the British Isles and a major city of the world. What sort of message does it present to other countries that we will not celebrate our English Heritage? of course, there is the question that the Mayor might feel it is not 'PC' to show we are proud to be English!

Added: 27 April 2008 17:17

scooter says:

Lets all put stickers of the ST.Georges flag on cars and windows and reclaim our heritage from this squandering gang of politicians .A whole generation from this country paid for it and over the years I seen it devalued on the alter of politcal correctiveness.HOORAY!

Added: 26 April 2008 17:22

Chris - Sussex says:

As my birthday falls on April 23rd I have always celebrated St. George's Day. It is very important, now more than ever, to promote the tradition of St. George's Day. In the face of all the diversity and multi-cultures we English have to contend with, it's a way of asserting our true national identity. We need to send out the message we are English (not Brits or Euros or anything else) and we celebrate whatever we want to in our own country. If that offends the white liberals, who cares?

Added: 26 April 2008 10:31

rosey says:

well now that the scots,welsh and northern irish have destroyed the union (devolution)whats left is ENGLAND and we should have a bank holiday for it and bin the union jack in ENGLAND and have the cross of St Goergehe by same token let the welsh/scots etc fly there own flags and have a English assembly and not a scotish priminster just a thought?

Added: 26 April 2008 04:21

Brett says:

Yea England rocks!! I'm all for a good celebration of English culture - let's make it a national holiday!!!

Added: 25 April 2008 17:00

George says:

I always celebrate St George's day in the same way each year.
I get up, go to the local Tavern and down a few tankards of mead. I go home for lunch where my wife has roasted a wild boar and then I meet up with my mates and do a bit of raping and pillaging, before going out in the evening to the local Morris Dance meeting.
Same thing every year - very boring !

Added: 25 April 2008 16:08

chris says:

Too late to introduce an outmoded concept( hero and unfortunate dragon) and probably a myth at this stage. WE should celebrate something like Diversity or Multcultural Day to reflect modern society in this little country.

Added: 25 April 2008 14:54

Mike Curtis says:

As a Welshman living in England I feel I might be able to offer an alternative perspective. Firstly, in Wales St David's day is not about patriotism, passion or religion, and it's certainly not a commercial excercise. St David's Day is a celebration of our country's culture and language and has always been aimed at Children. It's an extremely inclusive day with all ethic groups, immigrant or not, welcomed to share the cultural heritage. It's fantastic to the traditional Welsh ladies costume being sported by young girls from every ethic background.
It's had to say why it works, perhaps it's because there is a very long cultural tradition of these activities, perhaps it's because there's no chest beating. I asked my English partner what cultural elements could be celebrated in a similar way? We struggled to find anything that was uniquely English and would focus all English school children across the land.
Talk of no true English people, too many immigrants, too many Scottish politicians and erosion of christianity is all a red herring. St David's Day and Burns night are liked by a celebration of cultural identity. Sadly St Patrick's day is now a commercial festival. The English need to forget the flag waving and find a common culture than everyone can buy into, flying a flag on your car should be left for sporting tournaments (if you must).

Added: 25 April 2008 13:51

Chris says:

I prefer to celebrate Guy Fawkes night. Celebration of a failed revolution is very English (everyone else celebrates the successful ones)

Added: 24 April 2008 23:37

H.E.C. of London. says:

I am not suprised that WE English do not celebrate St Georges Day in the way that we should....just very disapointed, the reason we don't celebrate it as we should is because there are so few true English people left in this once great country anymore & worse still, those that are, feel like me that we mustn't express our passion publicly for fear of being politically INcorrect....would the last English person to leave please turn out the lights & cancel the milk !!! .