St George's Day
Volume 1 | Issue 5 - Ideology
Article by Zara Barua. Edited by Claire Stratton. Additional Research by Kathy Stein.
Who can actually say they’ve ever celebrated St George’s day? The closest I got was a St George’s day pub quiz, which my team and I performed particularly badly in. The red-cross banner representative of St George appears all over the place; on key rings, caps, t-shirts, car stickers and most commonly on flags, but what does this actually mean or symbolise? As a history student I’m ashamed to say that before writing this article, had someone asked me who St George was, I would have probably answered ‘erm…something about a dragon?’.
Our recognition of the patron saint of England and his feast day on the 23rd of April is minuscule to our drunken festivities every March 17th to celebrate St Patrick’s. Yet most people still do not have a clue what the day actually represents despite expressing (mostly superficial) Irish culture. This is not really a call to revive celebrations of St George’s day to promote nationalism, but rather a questioning of our indifference towards what is meant to be our national heritage. We will therefore explore exactly who St George was, how his day of feast used to be celebrated and work out why individuals like Jeremy Paxman have dismissed St George as ‘a vague, workaday saint of little spiritual or theological importance’. St George was allegedly born in Cappadocia, modern day Turkey, in about 280AD and became known for his
‘virtuous behaviour and physical strength; his military bearing, valour and handsome good looks’ within the cavalry of the Roman army. In an era of horrific persecution of Christians by the emperor Diocletian, St George became famous for defending his Christianity. He denounced Diocletian for his unnecessary cruelty and injustice and as a result was thrown into prison and tortured but never denied his belief in Christ. He was finally beheaded at Nicomedia in Palestine in 303AD. From then he became a Christian martyr, his courageous stories becoming known all over Europe and it was in the crusades of the 12th century that the red cross on a silver background started to be used on flags and pennants as ameans of recognition of English Knights. In 1415AD, St George became the Patron Saint of England when English soldiers won the battle of Agincourt after a vision of St George was supposedly seen.
As Giles Morgan explains though, ‘for many people, the martyrdom of St George has come to be largely overshadowed, if not completely obscured, by his legendary conflict with a fearsome dragon’. This legend was a later addition to the cult of St George in the book ‘The Golden Legend’ by Jacobus de Voragine in 1266. The basic story goes as such. The city of Silena in Libya was terrorised by a monstrous dragon that lived in a huge lake close by and the inhabitants fed two sheep a day to keep at bay but as their flock depleted they had to feed it one sheep and one person instead. The only young person left after a while was the daughter of the king but while the princess is waiting for the dragon, St George comes to the rescue! He gets on his horse and gives the dragon a terrible blow as it emerges from the water. The injured dragon is dragged towards the onlookers and St George calls out to them that they must be baptised and in exchange he will slay the dragon. The inhabitants agree to be baptised and St George kills the dragon.
Thus, St George ends up less recognised for his Christian Martyrdom and more for his heroism. The name of St George has been dragged through the dirt a little as well. I talked to my housemates about St George and they made some interesting comments. One said, ‘well if you celebrate St George’s day, you get accused of being racist’. And this is partly true. Whilst after World War I and II, there was an increase in St George being represented as an icon, recently he has been appropriated to a ‘racist or jingoistic agenda’, says Morgan. Morgan gives the example of the ‘League of St George’, which argues that England belongs to those who have ancestral right to call themselves English. It is unfair to use St George as a symbol of Englishness since he was Turkish and is also the patron Saint of several other countries, including Ethiopia, Greece, Lithuania, Russia, Portugal and Palestine. Interestingly he is an emblem of Rastafarianism. His importance is epitomised on the cover of Bob Marley’s album, ‘Confrontation’, released two years after his death. This depicted Bob Marley riding a white horse and slaying a dragon. This shows Bob Marley equated to St George as a hero, but also a ‘third world superstar’ and champion of Rastafarianism.
Whilst, nowadays, the English are largely indifferent to the celebration of St George’s day, in the Middle Ages, following the victory at Agincourt, St George’s Day became a major festival and everyone was expected to desist from work and attend church in St George’s honour. The celebration of the day ‘was a major event in the yearly calendar and was marked by elaborate and often expensive parades and pageants’, Morgan comments. Celebrations included the ‘Riding of the George’, with a procession of costumed individuals marching through the town, staging plays and dancing to music. One example is a celebration taking place in Norwich in 1408 in which the battle of St George and dragon was re enacted. Morgan describes the celebrations as ‘a mixture of religious devotions and displays of civic pride and status, and they would be lively, jolly and noisy affairs’. Thus it seems a little sad that no longer do we have such joyous affairs marking St George’s Day.
The legend of Saint Patrick, his day being celebrated much more enthusiastically has a similar history to St George. St Patrick was captured and enslaved by Irish pirates as a child and believed that this had come as a punishment for his lack of faith in Christ. He escaped after six years and became a priest and after a further six years he returned to Ireland to spread the word of Christ.
It seems that people get so excited about ‘St Paddy’s Day’ because of stereotypical ideas about Irish culture linked to the drinking of whiskey, Guinness and the wearing of green. One askes the question, couldn’t we all then start celebrating St George’s Day wearing white and red, drinking lots of erm…Boddingtons and erm…Morris Dancing all night long? Let’s not tear apart English nationalism too much, but it’s not likely it would work as an annual event. However likely it is that St George’s Day will ever be celebrated just as much as St Paddy’s Day, it’s important that we know why we’re waving a red and white flag at football and cricket games or at least the story behind the cross.