Are you celebrating St George’s Day today? Were you even aware that is was St George’s Day?
The English are often accused of a lack of patriotism when compared with how the Irish, Scottish and Welsh celebrate their patron saints’ days.
So what does St George’s Day mean to you? Is it a rallying cry or an irrelevance? An excuse to wave the flag and have a knees up or will you just ignore the whole thing?
Have your say in the comments box below.
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37 Comments
I used to celelbrate it every year without fail but didn’t even realise it was today until i heard it on the news this morning.
It makes me very angry that St Patricks day is made such a fuss off but the English are to scared/forbiden to arrange any parades or carnivals for fear of being branded racists or offending out multicultural co-habitants (who, at some point, have chosen to live here) and they actually encouraged celebrate their special days.
St Georges day gets less noticed every year and you cant blame people for not being patriotic when as soon as they make a noise about being proud to be English, they get kicked in to touch due to Political ‘correctness’.
it’s a mockery.
well i wouldn’t have the day off work to celebrate it, but i do think it’s important we do something to acknowledge it.
i think a lot of people have become increasingly disillusioned with our loss of identity in recent years and it’s important to remember what it means to be british.
Mmm, how to celebrate being English?
I think I’ll emigrate . . .
wellington, you are absolutely SPOT ON. i wholeheartedly agree with everything you’ve said and think it’s a real shame.
Julie, it’s about what it means to be ENGLISH, not British, because English is what the flag of St. George is.
I think i might emigrate back to china town
Considering that St George is the patron saint of a lot of different countries and cities across the world, I fail to see how ‘celebrating’ this gentleman - who was born before England was even a country and never actually set foot on these isles - could be considered patriotic.
We celebrate it every year. I believe the media is partly to blame, they advertise/promote St. Patrick’s day for at least a month before the event, but you hear nothing from them for St. George’s Day, or David or Andrew for that matter.
having been born in shrewsbury and knowing some of the history of the town it is easy to get worked up over st david’s day considering shrewsbury was part of wales at one time, but it is high time all the patron saints days were celebrated. it is nice that our scottish prime minister is flying the st georges cross in downing street, now when are those local elections!! oh cynical me
Gene Therapy, maybe you should emigrate, you obviously don’t have an English ‘heart’.
I agree with Lee, we are English NOT british!
Please do not take affence at all but……. Scotland, Ireland and Wales don’t say that they are British, they are Welsh, Irish or Scottish and we are ENGLISH and proud!
have a fab day everyone and i hope you are wearing something red and white! “I am”
I am celebrating the day by going to work!!! Let me know when they make it a Bank Holiday and I will find a better way to celebrate it.
I too am celebrating by working ! If they want people to be proud of this country. Make it a holiday.. make St Georges day an occasion, not just another working day.
It’s becoming increasingly important to celebrate are national identity given the fact that local communties and the english way of life is becoming more fractured all the time.
St Patricks day is promoted on such a large scale because it is primarily (rightly or wrongly) associated with drinking and therefore, is a massive moneyspinner.
I don’t feel we should be ashamed to be English & should celebrate it throughout the year, not just for one day. If you go to the USA, there is a flag flying on every street corner, in every garden. We should do so here, with pride, 365 days a year.
less of the silly comments, no one is banned from celebrating st georges day if you wish too go ahead and do it fed up of people who say we are not allowed of course we are its just many are not very patriatic.
WELL SAID ANG
I HAVE FLAGS FLYING AND WEARING ENGLAND TOPS
IM PROUD TO BE ENGLISH AND NOT ASHAMED TO SHOW IT
I EVEN SENT ST GEORGE’S DAY CARDS TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY
I WAS AMAZED TO SEE THE CARD FACTORY IN TELFORD SELLING THESE AS IVE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE
I celebrate St Georges Day EVERY year. Well it is my birthday, I was born in St Georges and my name is Georgina.
“devon salopian” - Shrewsbury was never part of Wales, it has always been an English town in England, county town of the English county of Shropshire, founded by the Mercians in the 8th century. Frankly there should be St George’s flags all over the town today.
I’m glad Telford and Wrekin BC and Shrewsbury and Atcham BC both now fly the St George’s flag every day of the year at their council offices. It’s a start.
How I celebrate today? Drinking English beer and generally feeling patriotic. Good weather today too - I suggest people go for a walk and think about how lucky they are to be in England and not some banana republic in central Africa or Latin America. Some people don’t know they were born.
Remember - being born an Englishman is winning the lottery of life. It’s still true.
Ooh! Its St George’s Day. Yippee!
As “Man” said, he didn’t even set foot in this country so why is he our patron saint? (Rhetorical question - see wikipedia) Lets appoint a real English saint (preferably with a saints day later in the year when there are fewer bank holidays) then there might be a bit more enthusiasm.
Andy
How about St.Chav of Telford!!
I agree with Andy.
And lets all eat a typical St Georges Day feast of Turkish kebab followed by some Turkish Delight.
I dont suppose he ever tried Roast Beef and Yorkshire puddings.
i was sure i read somewhere that shrewsbury and part of the west midlands were in wales at one time. i have just checked with wikipedia which says tht shrewsbury and part of the west midlands were indeed a part of the old historic kingdom of powys, whose governor’s seat was in shrewsbury before the saxon’s took over
I don’t even know about St George’s day what is about and what do you celebrate
i think st george day is ok
Yes “devon salopian” there was the old Kingdom of Powys. It existed before the concept of England and Wales was around, during the so-called “dark ages” between Roman Britain (c. 400) and the unification of England (c. 900). Whether Shrewsbury was around at this time is uncertain - the legend of Pengwern and all that. What is certain is that the town of Shrewsbury as we know it today was founded by the Saxons (the Mercians) in the 8th century or there abouts. The county of Shropshire was established around it as Saxons continued to settle in the area. Wales is basically the left over bits of Britain where the Saxons did not successfully colonise. It only came about as an entity later on in the middle ages.
The only reason St Patricks Day is celebrated in England is so the pubs and brewerys can sell as much Guinness as possible in one day.
The patriotism displayed by the masses who do celebrate St.George’s Day are akin to the beer swilling patriots who mar the honour and pride of the English nation at football matches. Neanderthal thugs who use it as an excuse to ‘down a few bevvies’ and fight their own dragon in the street as they stagger home. The anglo-saxon blood still runs deep, but the meaning is lost. It is this image that makes the good natured English man or woman shy away from such celebrations. Thought: Is there really an England left these days, or is the blue flag with its unifying gold stars stripping what pride and memory is left.
Howard do you fancy a crimp ?
I think St Georges day should be celebrated in England.I don’t suppose we will ever know for sure if he set foot in this land.But I think it’s more about the values that he stood for that made the crusading nights adopt him as England’s patron Saint.Values that this country badly needs.
thank you david for putting me right, i stand corrected. england for st george and onward
i’ll get my own back…
It’s tabloid nonsense to suggest that St George’s day parades are banned for fear of offending minorities. I really don’t know where people get this rubbish from - perhaps they invent it to make mischief.
The plain fact is that there is a lack of interest - only today I read that in Coventry a proposed parade was cancelled - not for pseudo-political reasons, but simply because not enough people could be bothered with it.
So why do our fellow Brits, the Scottish and the Welsh, and indeed those across the Irish Sea make such a fuss of their national days?
Probably because we spent most of the last few centuries suppressing their national identities, and the patron saint business was a means of opposing that suppression.
We make less of our national identity because historically we have usually had the upper hand, and of course we have had so many diverse influences on our culture over many centuries that it is difficult to pinpoint precisely what that ‘national identity’ consists of anyway.
Going around killing dragons, he didn’t do much for conservation did he?
Anni, it’s OK because dragons cause global warming.
I think the English identity has been suppressed by the British institution, so as not to offend the other members. I also believe the English don’t celebrate saints days because that is a catholic tradition and England is a protestant country.
Wales isn’t a Catholic country. Neither is all of Scotland for that matter.
The plain fact is that we had an entire British Empire, so English nationalism wasn’t something most people felt the need to proclaim.
Latterly the whole notion of any idea of nationalism has been hijacked and sullied by parties of the far-right, so most people have sought to distance themselves from it. If anyone has suppressed and narrowed the English identity, it is they who are to blame.
It’s a supreme irony that the very people who so loudly boast that they protect the British identity are actually killing any notion of it stone dead.
As an ex patriot Englishman now living in the USA, it makes me sad to see that most so called Englishmen and women do not know when St Georges Day is. As has been said above, the Scots, Welsh and Irish are well aware of their of their national identities, Patron Saints, flag and even national flower.(Red Rose for England for those who don’t know).
Ask most “Englishmen” what their national flag is and they’ll probably tell you the Union Jack!
Here in the USA we fly the Stars and Stripes outside our home every day except one, and that is April 23, when we proudly fly the English flag, St. Georges Cross.
It’s a shame that doesn’t happen more in England, on every day, not just St. Georges Day.