Today is Saint Georges day in England

[Delta 0]

Today is Saint Georges day in England. I just thought I would share the legend with you. I hope that you don't mind. On this day it is customary in England to wear a Rose. Unfortunately it is no longer a public holiday, now that's a real shame.:-

 

The Legends

The legends surrounding Saint George are very varied. One of them concerns the famous dragon, with which he is invariably portrayed. According to legend, a pagan town in Libya was being terrorised by a dragon. The locals kept throwing sheep to it to placate it, and when it still remained unsatisfied, they started sacrificing some of the citizenry. Finally the local princess was to be thrown also to the beast, but Good Saint George came along, slaughtered the dragon and rescued the fair princess. At this the townsfolk converted to Christianity.

The origin of the legend, which is very well known, came originally from the way in which the Greek Church honoured George. They venerated him as a soldier saint and told many stories of his bravery and protection in battle. The western Christians, joining with the Byzantine Christians in the Crusades, elaborated and misinterpreted the Greek traditions and devised their own version. The story we know today of Saint George and the dragon dates from the troubadours of the 14th century.

 

The reason for his being adopted as the Saint of Battles was partly because he was a soldier, but also because he is said to have appeared to the Christian army before the Battle of Antioch. It is also said that he appeared to our English King Richard I (the Lionheart) during his Crusade against the Saracens, which served as a great encouragement to the troops.

 

In 1222 the Council of Oxford appointed 23rd April as his Feast Day. He became the English Patron Saint in 14th Century and he became associated with the Order of the Garter.

 

I got this information from tha site named bellow :)

http://www.innotts.co.uk/asperges/george/george2.html

[hangon 3]

:) i forgot all about it..thats what living in holland does,you forget where you came from thanks delta i will check out the link

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Interesting, thanks.

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

Did not know that...

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information assimilated...

[fenriz275 0]

Yay! Now I know something new, ouchie brain hurts now. B)

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Thank you - I no something new now. Very interesting.

[Admiral Kirk 1]

I only knew that St. George was a dragon slayer and the cross on the English flag is his insignia. Thanks for further informing me.

[Angela 1]

From what I have heard he was also a palestinian (Ironic considering the problems they are having with the Isrelies and vice versa, that we honour one of theirs as one of our own.)

[ARMS 0]

I'm english, i never knew about this, nor cared :blink:

[v_seven 0]

Thanks that was very interesting....I printed off the photo of him

on the horse.....I love stuff like this! :lol:

[Lady Luthien 0]

Yes I know!!!! I was in Oxford in a pub at that time celebrating with a lot of pple st.Georges Day!! that was fun to do!