Wednesday 23 April 2008

Happy Saint George's Day!

St. Patrick's Day gets a lot of notice in the US, but the many descendents of English settlers ought to pay some attention to St. George. That said, in my experience the English themselves don't do a great deal about celebrating this day, but it may be because I'm not a school child. Last night, on our walk after dinner, Bill and I observed the English flag flying outside the posh prep school nearby. I don't recall seeing the English flag much until a couple of years ago when the England football (soccer) club made it to the World Cup. I'm afraid I tend to associate the flag with football and with the British National Party, a far right political party that I know little about other than our Neighbourhood Watch guy (George) is a member and doesn't like having an Asian family down the street. You always know when George is working his allotment, as his flag is flying. Putting aside English politics, St. George is also the patron saint of a number of other countries, of people with a variety of onerous occupations, of Scouts and of persons suffering from any of several loathesome diseases, including syphillis. (Crosses my mind to wonder what Scouts get up to these days.) I visited Google.com to see if they had it (of course not), so I'm sharing the UK's logo for today (http://www.google.co.uk/), because the little dragon is just too cute to miss.

1 comment:

Rick Stone said...

My dad, George, who is of English heritage, will be pleased to know their is a day named after him.