Today is St. George's Day in England. He's their patron saint, and on my way home from the office, I saw English flags flying all over the place. Some people want this day to be a national holiday. There are also articles in the paper about how we must save England from the clutches of the European Union, who want to take away British sterling and replace it with Euros, and also stop the English from doing things like printing pounds and ounces on food items (must use the metric system). It's all very interesting for an expat like me to observe the nationalism of another country (not the USA).
Here's info on George from the BBC website:
"Very little is known about the real St George. He is thought to have been born into a noble Christian family in the late third century in Cappadocia, an area which is now in Turkey. He followed his father's profession of soldier and became part of the retinue of the Emperor Diocletian. The emperor ordered the systematic persecution of Christians and George refused to take part. In 303, he was himself tortured and executed in Palestine, becoming an early Christian martyr.
The legend of George slaying a dragon and rescuing an innocent maiden from death is medieval. St George's Day is celebrated in England on 23 April, reputed to be the day of George's martyrdom in 303."
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
St. George's Day
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3 comments:
Interesting point about the metric/imperial, Mama. From my perspective the battle's already over in favour of metric and it's just old people who can't get their head round it who still use it.
And in the next few decades that'll, quite literally, die out.
Also I saw no British flags. Maybe London's too cosmopolitan.
I THINK THIS HAS ALL COME ABOUT DUE TO THE SCOTTISH AND WELSH ASSMEBLYS AND ST PATRICKS DAY ETC. THE ENGLISH ONLY SEEM TO RALLY AROUND THE FLAG WHEN FEELING THREATENED. KEEP THE UNION JACK FLYING IS WHAT I SAY! WE ARE ALL ONE COUNTRY THE UK AND THE HOME COUNTRYS SHOULD BE PROUD OF WHO THEY ARE BUT NOT TO LOOSE THE LARGER PICTURE. WE ARE ONE GREAT COUNTRY COMPOSED OF DIVERSE INDIVIDUAL NATIONS, WE SHOULD BE PROUD OF THAT.
Thanks, anonymous. I thought I might hear from you on this topic!
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