What’s so special about George?

England’s national day will be celebrated this year on Thursday, 23^rd April 2015. This day is known as the feast day of ‘Saint George’ or ‘Saint George’s’ Day. But who is ‘Saint George’? 

You could be forgiven for thinking that this relates to King George VI, an important King of England during the First World War or even the Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison perhaps? In fact, I’m talking about Georgius of Lydda, a Roman soldier born to a Greek Christian noble family in the 4^th Century in Syria Paleastina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George)!

So what’s so special about this George?

Well, apparently (according to some legends - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon) he fought off a dragon in name of the Christian faith from the town or Aragon (no, not Lord of the Rings...that’s Aragorn!) and so is regarded as a prominent military saint for the church and for Christianity in general (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_saint). So much so that our National flag (a red cross on a white background) is attributed to his legend (wiki red cross).

So why have you not heard about him?  

This is probably down to the fact that most English people don’t seem to be too bothered about celebrating our National Day...not really sure why! Unlike the Irish whom you may have seen back in March celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day throughout  the city with painted faces, tall green hats and a pint of Guinness in their hand, the English ‘celebrations’ of our National day tend to be much more low key, although there are some celebrations taking place (visit http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event/8726328-feast-of-st-george-in-trafalgar-square for information about events taking place in London to mark the day). 

Why not let us know your thoughts on Saint George and whether we here in England should have a day dedicated to him? What are your plans for St. George’s Day? What is your country’s National Day and how is this celebrated?