The patron day

St. George and the dragon. Yesterday was St. George's day in the U.K. At the present time, there is a debate whether the St. George flag (a very common symbol of England - the white flag with red cross) should be flown alongside the union jack on all government buildings. Government protocol suggests that the union jack should always be closest to Buckingham. Ah the weird and wonderful ways the monarchy appears in this country.

I'm suprised though. While Ireland has a national holiday to celebrate their patron saint, England has never had St. George's day off (if in the middle of the week). In fact, there are no patriotic holidays here. We have no day to celebrate England. Coming from Canada (who celebrates being Canadian on 1 July) and noticing that Ireland has St. Patty's day as the day to celebrate Ireland, France has Bastille Day, US - independence day etc, it is slightly jarring to an office worker that England hasn't tried to make sure to get another day off. For a land that created unions - why don't we have more national holidays? And this day would clearly be a good fit. (We don't have remembrance day off either - also strange since Germany, France, and Brussels do....)

But onto St. George ----- he was a Roman soldier and matyred as a Christian. As all saints are. While multiple countries proclaim St. George their patron saint (including Georgia and Greece). Most famous for fighting a dragon to free the daughter of a Lebanese king (never called a princess suprisingly in the tales).