Saint George’s Day

 Saint George's Day, also called the Feast of Saint George, is the
feast day of Saint George as celebrated by various Christian
Churches and by the several nations.
 Saint George's Day is normally celebrated on 23 April. However,
Church of England rules denote that no saints' day should be
celebrated between Palm Sunday and the Sunday after Easter
Day. 23 April is the traditionally accepted date of the saint's
death in the Diocletianic Persecution of AD 303.
Saint George’s
Day
  The earliest documented mention of St. George in England
comes from the Catholic monk the venerable Bede The will
of Alfred the Great is said to refer to the saint, in a reference
to the church of Fordington, Dorset. At Fordington a stone
over the south door records the miraculous appearance of
History of the St. George to lead crusaders into battle.
Feast  Edward III put his Order of the Garter under the banner of
St. George. This order is still the foremost order of
knighthood in England and St. George's Chapel at Windsor
Castle was built by Edward IV and Henry VII in honour of the
order.
 English tradition
Flag of England, derived from Saint
George's Cross
  St. George's Day was a major feast and national holiday in
England on a par with Christmas from the early 15th century.
The tradition of celebration St. George's day had waned by the
end of the 18th century after the union of England and Scotland.
 Nevertheless, the link with St. George continues today, for
example Salisbury holds an annual St. George's Day pageant,
the origins of which are believed to go back to the 13th century.
In recent years the popularity of St. George's Day appears to be
English increasing gradually.
tradition
Saint George’s
 BBC Radio 3 had a full programme of St. George's Day events in
Day as a holiday 2006, and Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, has
been putting the argument forward in the House of Commons
to make St. George's Day a public holiday.
 In early 2009, Mayor of London Boris Johnson spearheaded a
campaign to encourage the celebration of St. George's Day,
and during the 2017 and 2019 General Elections the Labour
Party campaigned for it to be a public holiday.
Saint George’s
Day celebration  Today, St. George's day may be celebrated with anything English
including morris dancing and Punch and Judy shows.
 A traditional custom on St. George's day is fly or adorn the St.
George's Cross flag in some way: pubs in particular can be seen
on 23 April festooned with garlands of St. George's crosses. It is
customary for the hymn "Jerusalem" to be sung in cathedrals,
churches and chapels on St. George's Day, or on the Sunday
closest to it. Traditional English food and drink may be consumed.
  There is a growing reaction to the recent indifference to St.
George's Day. Organisations such as English Heritage and
the Royal Society of St. George have been encouraging
celebrations.
Popularity of  There have also been calls to replace St. George as patron
Saint George’s saint of England on the grounds that he was an obscure
figure who had no direct connection with the country.
Day  Recently there have been calls to reinstate St. Edmund as
the patron Saint of England as he was displaced by George
some 400 years ago.
 DATE OF THE FEAST
 Religious observance of St. George's day changes when it is
too close to Easter. According to the Church of England's
calendar, when St. George's Day falls between Palm Sunday
and the Second Sunday of Easter inclusive, it is moved to the
Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter.
Saint George’s
Day SAINT GEORGE’S DAY IN SPORT
 In sport, 23 April is also the anniversary of the St. George
Dragons Rugby League Football Club. The St. George club
coincidentally played their inaugural New South Wales Rugby
League first grade match on St. George's Day, 23 April 1921 at
the Sydney Sports Ground in Australia.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George%27s_Day

Bibliography