St George’s Day Greetings

St George’s Day greetings from a locked down England. Over the last few years, the day has been marked more and more by local authorities, pubs and local groups. Sadly, this year the various events celebrating our national day will simply not be happening. On the upside, maybe the focus on the CCP virus maybe there’ll be less fake angst and navel gazing from the usual suspects that have become part of the St George’s day tradition.

Most years there is a flurry of puff pieces from ill informed journos trying to turn St George’s Day on its head and use it as part of their anti-patriotic kulturkampf.

Here comes the rant…

One popular gambit is to point out that St George was not English. This is then used to spin the narrative that as many of England’s cultural icons have roots outside of the country there really isn’t any such thing as England and the English at all is there? Another line is to develop the “St George wasn’t even English” line and argue that we should adopt a different patron saint, one more in line with 21^st century sensitivities, or even not have a patron saint at all.

All utter horse elbows and a bigger straw man than the Scare Crow from Wizard of Oz. Both of these arguments, such as they are, say far more about the ignorance and prejudices of the person making the argument than about England or St George. True, the real St George was not English, he was probably an Anatolian Greek in the Prætorian Guard of the Emperor Diocletian and was martyred by the Emperor for refusing to recant his faith. He lived and died in the 3^rd century AD, when the land that is now England was still part of the Roman province of Britannia and our  Angle, Saxon and Jutish ancestors were still paddling around in the marshes of what is now northern Germany and Denmark. No one was English at that time.

It is completely normal for a patron saint to not be from the country they are patron of, often having no historic connection with the country at all. The Virgin Mary is the primary patron saint of France, Spain, Australia, Hungary and Hong Kong (among many others). Scotland’s patron, St Andrew, was Greek and Ireland’s St Patrick was Romano-British, of the Home Nations only St David of Wales was actually from the place he’s patron of. I mentioned the Virgin Mary as patron saint of France, you might pf thought this was Joan of Arc, and indeed she is one of France’s ten patron saints, fifth on the list after Mary, St Michael, St Denis and St Martin of Tours. Many countries have more than one patron saint and England is no exception, with four patrons, St George, St Michael, St Edmund King and Martyr and St Edward the Confessor. So, there is no need for any new patron saints.

St George was a very popular saint among the Crusaders and was adopted by the English knights. His red cross on white became associated with them and English kings flew it in battle, along with the banners of the Trinity, St Edmund and St Edward. It flew at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt, it flew over the ships that sailed against the Spanish Armada and was on the flags of both sides during the English Civil Wars and the regimental colours of the Army that grew out of those wars. It was at Blenheim, Minden, Yorktown, Waterloo and Balaclava and is part of the Union Flag today. St George may not have been English, and we share him with Greece, Russia, Romania and many other places, but this doesn’t mean he’s not our saint.

I think what really angers me about the assumptions of the lefties is that they really think English patriots believe in some twisted, nasty continental idea of racial and cultural purity. We are very aware of the mixed nature of our nation and its culture. Adoption, adaption and blending are part and parcel of our nationhood.  

Rant over.

I’d like to share some things you might enjoy. The first is a cover of the Kink’s song Village Green Preservation Society by the delightful Yorkshire lass Kate Rusby.

The second is an adaptation of the Kipling poem A Tree Song, from Puck of Pook’s Hill, by folk singer Peter Bellamy, He named the song Oak, Ash and Thorn, from the chorus. I’ve chosen this particular video as it is illustrated with clips showing English wildlife from the series Wild Britain by survival expert Ray Mears. You may spot some wild boar, which went extinct in England in the Middle Ages. They have been farmed in various places since the ‘70s and escapees have now re-established themselves, especially around the East Sussex/Kent border. Along with the wildlife there are a couple of nice shots of Glastonbury Tor and the vid ends with a shot of a statue of King Alfred the Great.

Lastly, here is the first episode of the English sit-com Dinnerladies. I would say if you want to see a really good, very English comedy, this would be a good one to choose. Something far removed from Monty Python and Benny Hill. All the action takes place in the canteen of a factory in a suburb of Manchester. It follows the lives of the canteen staff and some of the regular customers and is quite gentle, no f-bombs, but plenty of adult themes and double entendre and some lovely performances from the cast. I don’t now how well some of the cultural references will work for an American audience but here it is, I hope you like it.