Today in England is traditionally celebrated as St. George's Day.
I say 'traditionally,' because the Church of England has seen fit to move the feast day back to the 28th of April so as not to interfere with any of the Easter week celebrations.
...According to church rules, no saint’s day can be observed during Holy Week or Easter Week.
A note from the Church of England explains:
“When St George’s Day or St Mark’s Day falls between Palm Sunday and the Second Sunday of Easter inclusive, it is transferred to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter. If both fall in this period, St George’s Day is transferred to the Monday and St Mark’s Day to the Tuesday.”
For a fellow born in what is now modern-day Turkey in the Third Century AD, died a horrific death as a Christian martyr in what is now modern day Israel, never set foot in England nor was he a knight (historical consensus is a Roman army officer), and there are serious questions about the dragon, well...St George has still had an outsized impact on British history and their national character in what I would say is all the best ways.
St George was martyred in the early part of the 4th century for refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods and canonized in 494 AD by Pope Gelasius. His April 23rd feast day was celebrated for hundreds of years, and it became especially important to the English after Henry V's triumph at Agincourt in 1415.
If you'll remember, Shakespeare has Harry invoking St George at the siege of Harfleur.
'...And upon this charge cry 'GOD, FOR HARRY, ENGLAND AND ST GEORGE!'...'
The English believe their patron saint has spread his protection over their country and their troops for centuries.
...Five hundred years later – during the First World War – a ghostly apparition of St George is said to have aided British troops during their retreat from Mons, and the naval commander of the Zeebrugge Raid cited the saint as inspiration.
In 1348, Edward III chose St George as the patron saint for his Royal Order of the Garter and used his cross as part of his royal standard. But St George's cross - the red cross on a white background - wasn't adopted as an English symbol until the reign of Henry VIII. It became the only saint's flag permitted in public during the English Reformation and was incorporated into the Union Jack in 1606.
St George, whatever his origins in the mists of history, is as English as mushy peas.
So, as you might imagine, he's a bit of an embarrassment to Labour unless they can use him to virtue signal 'patriotism' and 'English pride' when no one believes them for a split second.
And in fact, the government has many English citizens frightened off from celebrating their country's patron saint for fear of being seen as 'too' English.
I cannot imagine.
‘People are scared!’ England’s most English town admits why ‘embarrassed’ locals won’t celebrate St George’s Day
On the banks of the River Thames in the heart of Essex, lies a beleaguered bastion of English patriotism.
Canvey Island, a point of refuge for thousands of holidaymaking-turned-relocating Londoners, retained its crown as England’s most English town in the 2021 Census.
...However, scratch beneath the surface and there is not much going on behind the 14-mile sea wall to mark St George’s Day.
...“Englishness is really important,” pensioner Terry White told GB News. “I’d do something for St George’s Day but people are too scared.”
White, originally from Poplar on the London Docklands, believes other countries across the Anglosphere remain proud of their national identity but fears culture-cancelling efforts to “erase” English history deter people from showing support.
...“I’m very proud to be English and I’ll be spending St George’s Day with my daughter in Grays,” the tweed-clad pensioner [John Sutton] revealed. “But it’s such a shame we don’t do more. I just think people are embarrassed.”
'Embarrassed' to celebrate your country - gobsmacking.
I can only imagine they've been beaten back by being called 'bigots' for questioning the foreign invasion and constantly harangued by anti-national pride sentiments like those expressed on one show, which caused an uproar.
Watch the moment a tense row kicks off on GB News as broadcaster Samuel Sweek argues against the notion of national pride on St. George’s Day.
...Speaking on GB News, Sweek said national pride is not a concept he believes in.
“St George’s Day doesn’t float my boat”, he said. “There’s much to be taken from our country and people from England have done remarkable things over the years.
...The commentator responded: “I think if we had a country I could aspire to be proud of - a country that stands up for the marginalised, a country which political and media class punches downwards, maybe I could be proud.
“I don’t believe in the concept of national pride. It’s luck of the draw. It’s a lottery.”
That's exactly the kind of Labour voter the government loves. If you destroy a sense of national pride - or at least beat any desire to express it in public into hiding - you have effectively stripped your populace of any sense of self.
They are rudderless and faceless.
That's why the portraits of storied and legendary English heroes are no longer on display at Whitehall, Westminster, or 10 Downing Street. That's why English history is being removed from walls and public squares.
And exactly why Prime Minister Keir Starmer could shamelessly do what he did with this year's St George's Day - he held a party to tout his newfound 'patriotism.'
Sir Keir Starmer insisted Labour was 'the patriotic party' today as he used St George's Day to vow to 'fight for our flag and what it represents'.
The Prime Minister, who faces a major electoral test next week at the hands of Nigel Farage's Reform, used a celebrity reception at No10 to warn of the 'never-ending fight for our flag and what it represents'.
....Speaking ahead of the event the PM set out Labour's patriotic credentials, citing the postwar rebuilding of the country and creation of Nato under Clement Attlee.
Branding Reform 'a bunch of moaners without any answers' he told the Mirror: 'I'm really proud that Labour's the patriotic party.
'I think it's really important that we are proud of that history and assert it on St George's Day, as we will do. There is so much to celebrate about our country, and I'm really proud to be able to do that.'
Oh? I'm going to have to repeat that quote.
Sir Keir Starmer - patriot and sudden, ardent defender of 'the flag'?
the 'never-ending fight for our flag and what it represents'.
I only say 'sudden' because this is also Keir Starmer. Only versus his fellow English citizens waving 'the flag.'
A dad, who didn’t take part in any violence, but did wave England’s flag, is in prison for two years, his children go without their father.
— Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes_) September 17, 2024
Huw Edwards walks free for what I’m sure most of us would view as far worse a crime.
And Labour dare tell us two tier justice doesn’t exist? pic.twitter.com/iz8J25Mmkf
WHY DIS FLAG NOT OKAY?
🇬🇧 In once Great Britain you can now be arrested for waving the Countries Union Jack Flag on the streets of England. pic.twitter.com/c1sXTe1mOh
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) March 5, 2025
OR DIS FACEBOOK FLAG?
The Englishman posted British flag on Facebook and British police moved to arrest him for causing "a serious crime of a threatening nature which caused anxiety to anyone”.pic.twitter.com/e3s2rdfi0d
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) August 28, 2024
Labour has never been terribly big on patriotism or St George. I found a 2008 Bingley post on our old blog about how the Labour Party had just been pinged for boasting, as Starmer did today, of their oodles of English patriotism whilst expending no actual effort at all. Smoke and mirrors.
They did, however, hold true to Labour form in claiming that St George celebrants were 'bigots' much as Starmer does now with British flagwavers who aren't Labour fans.
£230: That's how much Department for Culture spent promoting St George's Day in FIVE years
They were happy to fly the flag of St George on the patron saint's day.
But it seems ministers aren't quite so keen to put their money where their mouths are.For, in the past five years, Labour has spent just £230 promoting St George's Day.
In 2008 they spent £116. In 2007, £114... and in the previous three years, nothing was spent at all.
This April, Downing Street proudly raised the flag, and Mr Brown's spokesman said: 'The prime minister's view is that of course we should celebrate our Britishness, but celebrating our Britishness does not mean we cannot also celebrate our Englishness, Scottishness, Welshness or Northern Irishness.'
Justice Secretary Jack Straw urged the English to reclaim the day from 'bigots'.
'Anyone proud to be English is equally proud of St George and what, down the ages, his myth and his flag have come to represent for this nation within the United Kingdom,' he wrote in the Daily Mail.
I found another quote from 2008, which could be dropped into today's headlines and the turgid, fetid state of Starmer's England.
...Outside the realm of sport, English patriotism and the St. George flag long were shunned by liberal-minded Britons, regarded as the preserve of right-wing “Little Englanders” steeped in nostalgia and a mistrust of foreigners. Politicians promoted the notion of Britishness — an amalgamated identity open to native and foreign-born citizens, and to English, Welsh and Scottish alike.
'Steeped in nostalgia and a mistrust of foreigners.'
My gosh - such awful people. What a shame they didn't listen to, vice deride them
Nothing changes with progressives, ever.
Saying the heck with them, GB News has found great groups of folks celebrating across England today.
It's the 'Proud to Be English' fun it should be.
No red-cheeked embarrassment required.
Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.
— Cameron (@Cameron_Surname) April 23, 2025
Happy #StGeorgesDay 🏴 pic.twitter.com/Q4FA9oQIal
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