Wednesday 22 April  2009

DOUG R. (England)

St George - Patron Saint of England

Most countries have a ‘Patron Saint.’ England is no exception.
But if you ask most English people what date is St Georges Day?

Maybe 20% will know it is 23 April. Few know or care who their patron Saint is. This indifference may be changing.

The original impact of St George on English life was when the Crusaders returned.
Soldiers told how St George appeared at a critical moment in battle to save them.

The clear impact of the red cross on a white background is a strong simple design.
It was adapted by English soldiers to identify themselves in the ‘fog of war.’
They wore the emblem front and back and have used it ever since.

Those days are remembered today in two modern flag designs of the British Union Flag and the Royal Navy ensign.
St George is considered to give special protection to English military.

Such heraldry became more important when knights’ improved their armoured protection.
As long as they remained on the horse all was well. But the substantial helmet obscured their face. Nobody knew who they were when they fell off.
A clear emblem, such as a distinctive personal flag or Coat of Arms, became ever more important to soldiers in the muddled confusion of battle.

A foot soldier finding a knight unseated from his horse would kill him without hesitation or compunction.
The knight is rendered immobile by his armour and unable to defend himself.

But he might be worth some cash if put up for ransom.
Don’t forget most soldiering was done for loot and ransom.
It made sense for an important knight to make it obvious what and who he was, and therefore his political standing or personal wealth.

More soldier’s stories of how St George fought on the English side at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) stimulated Archbishop Chicele to pronounce a special Day for celebrating the Feast of St George.

Significant Date
On Thursday the English speaking world celebrates the birthday of Shakespeare.
By coincidence, this date is significant as his birth in 1564 and death in 1616.

His play, Henry V, includes the famous speech rousing his troops in 1415 at the battle of Agincourt, urging them to make one last effort….. ‘Cry God for Harry, England and St George….’

Depending on your choice of calendar, 23 April 1616 was the death of Miguel Cervantes, author of ‘Don Quixote.’ This is therefore a special day in Catalan Spain.

For other authority we revert to the 7th century. A French bishop, Arcuif, had been travelling in Palestine. He relayed the story of protection of English soldiers by St George to the Abbott of Iona.
He notes a ‘Saint George’ in his writing, as does another acceptable author ‘the Venerable Bede.’

This attractive idea of St George coming to the aid of English soldiery was taken up by many important powers interested in public relations.

The Council of Oxford formally named 23 April as St Georges Day In 1222.

King Edward (1327-1377) founded his Order of the Garter (1348) as his First Order of Knighthood under the patronage of St George.
Edward IV and Henry V built the present Chapel of St George at Windsor castle for this important Order.

In 1940 by way of recognizing how civilians had now become directly involved in war, King George VI inaugurated ‘The George Cross,’ to be awarded for ‘acts of the greatest heroism or conspicuous courage in extreme danger’.
It is the highest British civilian recognition.
The design shows St George killing a dragon.

What does killing dragons have to do with English soldiers?
In contemporary pictures St George is shown sitting on a horse killing a dragon with his sword. Sometimes he is carrying a shield with either a red rose or a red cross, both on a white background. This is what Knights did and how they behaved and how they dressed.

Horses and Snakes and Dragons
Combining horses with St George and dragons with enemies goes deep and long into European history.

A date for the arrival of Spring was always a special day throughout the Celtic nations.
It proved nature’s continued presence and promised future nourishment.
These were always important to an agricultural society.

The Baltic countries hold the arrival of a specific date for spring as an established legally recognized date. Many legal contracts such as property leases and taxpaying days were directly related to this date. It was named St Georges Day (juripaev)

The link to the Middle East came from Eastern Slavs of the Kiev-Russian power area which then extended from the Black Sea to Lake Ladoga.
Yuri Dolgoruki (1098- 1157) was expanding his territory into Finland and Russia, converting local infidels to Christianity.

The expanding church combined established festivals with its own making them acceptable to locals.
The date might have been important for other reasons, all of interest to agriculture.

The following activities confirmed the arrival of the vernal equinox;

the melting of snow,
migrating streams of livestock,
the end of ice fishing,
the day to sow new seeds.
spawning migration of pike is noted today in the village of Lemmaku Estonia.

If the air temperature reaches 0 degrees C, this stimulates plant life. We call this Lady Day, 25 March.

Horses
Many nations, Poles, Germans, Hungarians, Russians, Latvians, have a St George as patron saint of horses.
In some stories, St George was a knight killed by the Roman emperor Diocletian in 303. He was considered a brave fighter with miraculous powers. Who could be more symbolic for soldiers?

Snakes
Snakes are important in our gatherings of myths. Many stories relate to snakes. What is the difference between snakes and dragons? One suggestion is a mistake was made by early heraldric experts who misunderstood a fan in the painting as one wing of a dragon. By adding the ‘other’ wing they started a whole new myth- by mistake.

Germans believed snakes are not poisonous before St Georges Day.
After that day, poison is absorbed from the earth.

Opinions are Changing.

Local British councils now find themselves under attack for not displaying on public buildings a St Georges flag on the appropriate day.
A recent review of citizenship by Lord Goldsmith recommended a national day to be focused on ideas about shared citizenship.
London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, have expressed their public support for a greater celebration of St George’s Day on April 23.

Are these moves towards celebrating a collective Englishness?
The tremendous growth of English language has powerful effect Worldwide.

Is there is a need to emphasise honesty, fairness, tolerance, enterprise and equality as experienced and shared by many people of many races and backgrounds?
Maybe English opinions are changing?
If so St George would be a popular choice.
But he was not English. He never came to England

DOUG R. (England)

Recent articles of Doug R.:

• ~The Grand National

• ~St Patrick’s Day

• ~Woman’s Day - 8th March

• ~Valentine's Day

• ~Your Free NHS

• ~Why Look East?

• ~Why we are like this?

• ~Cross Border Families

 

 

Published in Woman's Magazine Russian Woman Journal  www.russianwomanjournal.com - 22 April 2009

Culture

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