St Georges day.

Saint George is patron saint of..

Georgia, Egypt, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Romania, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine and Russia, as well as the cities of Genoa, Amersfoort, Beirut, Botoşani, Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Timişoara, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg im Breisgau, Kragujevac, Kumanovo, Lebanon, Ljubljana, Pérouges, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lod, Lviv, Barcelona, Moscow and Victoria, as well as of the Scout Movement and a wide range of professions, organizations and disease sufferers.


And England!! Happy Saint George's Day :hurray:( Can't find the party icon)


There'll be dancing in the streets of Preston!

He's got his work cut out. Do you think he gets a day off on 'his' day?

It's also Shakespeare's birthday (well, they think it is) and the day of his death - processions through Stratford, flowers etc. Happy Birthday, dear William, Happy Birthday to yoooou.

I read a fictional book once that implied the Normans made St George our patron saint, almost as an afterthought. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the book. Pity we couldn't have our own distinct patron saint as I seem to recall we had some reasonable candidates.

Who?


(Apart from Mrs Thatcher of course.)

I was thinking of one of those Saxon saints. I remember thinking that a certain person might have made a good patron saint while reading some history, but I can't remember who he was now. Perhaps it was St Cuthbert of Lindesfarne. Or maybe St Edmund, who was a young Angle king martyred by Danish invaders with bows and arrows after he refused to abjure his faith (I suspect they might have shot him anyway). I grew up partly in Bury St Edmunds, which was named after him.

I'm pretty sure it was St. Edward. But then we have two, Edward the Martyr and Edward the Confessor, both canonised. Their Saint's Days are 18th March and 13th October respectively.

Today, though, definitely belongs to George.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hawkman

I'm pretty sure it was St. Edward. But then we have two, Edward the Martyr and Edward the Confessor, both canonised. Their Saint's Days are 18th March and 13th October respectively.

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I wouldn't have Edward the Confessor as patron saint. The same book that implied that it was the Normans invaders who picked St George as our patron saint, also implied that Edward the Confessor encouraged William the Conqueror to invade the country after his death. Edward the Confessor was a weak king, had no children of his own, and did not want Harold Godwinson to succeed him because Harold's father had blinded and effectively killed Edward's brother. Considering what a horrible man William the Conqueror turned out to be for the population, that was a pretty ungodly thing to do.

I spent the day recounting stories of dragon-slayers to children at the museum where I volunteer - extremely fun, though I am a little smoke-filled thanks to standing next to a fire pit all day.

I did consider sneaking in a story about how St Margaret slew the great dragon Scar-gill, but I thought I would probably get things thrown at me.

If we are going to ditch St.George as being not truly British, I suggest that St. Nigel would be a more appropriate substitute.


http://youtu.be/cNq4hP4eMwg