Monday, April 23, 2007

NATIONAL DAYS

Today England will fly the flag of St. George in celebration of its patron saint. Flags bearing a red cross on a white background will be flown from churches and public buildings across the land.

The St. George’s flag, which goes to make up part of our British flag, was adopted by Richard the Lionheart. The king’s soldiers wore it on their tunics to avoid confusion in battle.

Like England, every country in the United Kingdom, has its own patron saint. St. David for Wales, St. Andrew for Scotland and St. Patrick for N. Ireland.

National Days in the United Kingdom are not celebrated to the same extent as National Days in many other countries. For example, only St. Patrick’s Day in N. Ireland and St. Andrews Day in Scotland (as from 2007) are taken as official holidays. Other National Days are normal working days.

On St. George’s Day most people show their allegiance by wearing a red rose. The thistle is regarded as the emblem for Scotland’s St. Andrews Day - 30 November, the wearing of a shamrock marks St. Patrick's Day on 17 March in N. Ireland and the Welsh wear a daffodil on St. David’s Day, 1 March.

Shakespeare made sure nobody would forget St. George when he wrote in King Henry V’s finishing pre-battle speech the famous saying ‘Cry God for Harry, England and St. George.

St. George, the saint who killed the dragon and died for his Christian beliefs.

Have a ‘Happy St. George’s Day’ everyone.


9 comments:

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

Hallo Marion, interesting reading, learnt something new today. Thank you. Recognized the flag from one of the card games I have. Monarchs of England and the monarch was Edward I 1272-1307. :-)
Thanks for visiting Tyras Garden the other day, nice to here from you Marion.

Boxwood Cottage said...

Happy St. georges day dear Marion! Btw I still haven't got around to buy postcards of Bremen for the school of Iche. Do you think that some photos would do too? If so I could send them off tomorrow! Have a happy sunny Monday! Carol xox

Ramblins of a middle-aged goddess said...

So very very happy to see you back online again..Betty kept us up on how you were doing. She sent me your address and I have just got around to writing you like I had planned..SORRY!! BEEN busy I guess which is not a good excuse but I have been thinking and praying for you to get through this operation this time. I am so glad you are better.
Thanks for filling me in on your holiday!! Great to learn new things for me especially since I would never know these things.
Again GREAT to have you back.
Sandy

Susie said...

I didn't know that every country in the UK had a patron saint. Very interesting post today, Marion.
xo

JacquiG said...

Happy St George's Day, Marion! Where is that statue of St George that you photographed? Have a wonderful day!

Val said...

Well we do share him with Portugal as a national patron saint, apparently. And I think that dragons get a bad press. Poor old dragons.....

Anonymous said...

Wish I was there to hand you a rose for this holiday. Enjoy.

Take care,
Connie

Kerri said...

Happy St. George's Day Marion. I enjoy your little lessons on the local cultures.
We celebrate St. David's day at our church because the Welsh settled in our area and started the church that preceded ours (ours is an offshoot of the original). Ross's grandmother came over from Wales when she was 17 and she married a welshman.
I hope you're feeling well! xoxo

Betty said...

Marion,
Had just a minute and can't resist turning on the computer.

Your posts are always so informative and I enjoy learning about Wales and UK.

Hopefully we are going to have a slower paced week. Plan to work outside.....

We need some of your rain...We are so dry and the terrible wild fire is causing so much chaos. It's about 60 miles from us . However another one has begun about 40 miles away but the smoke is visible.