Saturday, April 23, 2011

For the Queen and St. George....

Whose idea was it to put St. George's Day right in the middle of Easter? Try as we might it is just very difficult to find any way to celebrate the day. Unless of course it happens to be your birthday which indeed it is my nephew's (Happy Birthday Ben if you're reading this!) That apart though what do we have? St. Patrick's Day has its parades and Guinness and is a huge day for Irish communities the world over. St Andrew's Day is a little less so but still pulls together many Scottish people. St. David's Day is a lovely Welsh affair (rather like Giggs and Thomas!) with daffodils and leaks all over the place. What should the English have for St. George's then? The trouble is the national flag is mainly for football supporting purposes and has unfortunately become associated with nationalistic fringe political parties. But why should we let that hold us back. So let's eat roast ox and drink sack and mead for our country, the Queen, William Shakespeare and St George. Or we could have a curry and a pint of lager instead!...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

fix easter mid april, problem solved for many including schoolz.

Anonymous said...

St George's day should be celebrated. The RSC Stratford are celebrating today with St George's mushrooms on their breakfast menu. Yes ... they really do exist and are always ready to eat on St George's day. Today is also Shakespeare's birthday. Can't understand why we are not celebrating and it is more high profile. I say roast beef and yorkshires - a sherry trifle - good english wine - fish and chips - steak and kidney pie or british bbq. Maybe next year!!!!!

hallum said...

I used to wonder if some of those chaps with shaven heads and St Georges cross tattoos, were a little bit racist, but since discovering that the famous saint was armenien/turkish/palestinian, my mind has been put at rest.

sebfox said...

Good point, hallum. Best not tell the shaven head brigade that though; you'de probably get your head stamped on.

Vilvos said...

irish american here, i think the problem is that st. george's is just too "british" (at least, thats what an american would say, we're kinda dumb like that), and unfortunately holidays only matter if they make money.

Tonbridge blogger said...

You see British here is the wrong word. St George is the ENGLISH patron saint. So although we're proud too be British we don't seem to celebrate our Englishness very well. That's the point....

Tonbridge blogger said...

Give him a break he did slay a dragon to save a girl after all!...