Saint George's Day
Saint George's Day is the feast day of Saint George, celebrated by Christian churches, countries, regions, and cities of which he is the patron saint, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, England, Ethiopia, Greece, Georgia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Catalonia, Alcoi, Aragon, Genoa, and Rio de Janeiro.
Saint George's Day is usually celebrated on 23 April, the traditionally accepted date of the saint's death in the Diocletianic Persecution. However Saint’s days are not observed if they fall between Palm Sunday and the second Sunday of Easter, they will then be celebrated the following Monday.
Date
In the calendar of the Lutheran Churches, those of the Anglican Communion, and the General Calendar of the Roman Rite, the feast of Saint George is normally celebrated on 23 April. Since Easter often falls close to Saint George's Day, the church celebration of the feast may be moved from 23 April: for 2011, 2014, 2019, 2022 and 2025 the Lutheran, Anglican and Catholic calendars celebrated Saint George's Day on the first available weekday after the Octave of Easter .Common Worship says "When St George'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" but it does not say what to do if that day is 25 April – normally St Mark's Day. This will next occur in 2033.
The church celebrations of nearly all saints' days are transferred if they fall on a Sunday.
In fact, despite the rule above, the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales celebrated St George's Day on Tuesday 26 April 2022, with the feast day of St Mark taking precedence and being celebrated on Monday 25 April. The Church of England's Common Worship lectionary for 2022 had the same dates, with St George's Day being celebrated on Tuesday 26 April, according to the image of the physical book shown on social media.
Similarly, the Eastern Orthodox celebration of the feast moves accordingly to the first Monday after Easter or, as it is sometimes called, to the Monday of Bright Week.
Besides the 23 April feast, some Orthodox Churches have additional feasts dedicated to St George. The country of Georgia celebrates the feast of St George on 23 April and, more prominently, 10 November, which until the year 2100 fall on 6 May and 23 November, respectively. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the dedication of the Church of St George in Kiev by Yaroslav the Wise in 1051 on 26 November, which until the year 2100 falls on 9 December on the Gregorian calendar.
Forthcoming years in which the date will be subject to transference in England are 2028, 2030, 2033, 2038, 2041, 2044, 2049, 2052, 2055, 2057, 2060, 2068 and 2071.
In the Tridentine calendar Saint George's Day was given the rank of "Semidouble". In Pope Pius XII's 1955 calendar this rank is reduced to "Simple". In Pope John XXIII's 1960 calendar the celebration is just a "Commemoration". In Pope Paul VI's revision of the calendar that came into force in 1969, it was given the equivalent rank of a "Memorial", of optional use. In some countries, such as England, the rank is higher.
Western tradition
English Catholic and Anglican tradition
The earliest documented mention of St. George in England comes from the Catholic monk the venerable Bede. His feast day is also mentioned in the Durham Collectar, a ninth-century liturgical work. 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 St. George to lead crusaders into battle. Early dedications of churches to St. George are noted in England, for example at Fordingham, Dorset, at Thetford, Southwark and Doncaster. In the past, historians mistakenly pointed to the Synod of Oxford in 1222 as elevating the feast to special prominence, but the earliest manuscripts of the synod's declaration do not mention the feast of St. George. The declarations of the Province of Canterbury in 1415 and the Province of York in 1421 elevated the feast to a double major, and as a result, work was prohibited and church attendance was mandatory. 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. The badge of the Order shows Saint George on horseback slaying the dragon. Froissart observed the English invoking St. George as a battle cry on several occasions during the Hundred Years' War. Certain English soldiers also displayed the pennon of St. George.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 increasing gradually. BBC Radio 3 had a full programme of St. George's Day events in 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. 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 to 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.
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. There have also been calls to replace St. George as patron saint of England on the grounds that he was an obscure figure who had no direct connection with the country. However, there is no obvious consensus as to whom to replace him with, though names suggested include Edmund the Martyr, Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, or Saint Alban, with the last having topped a BBC Radio 4 poll on the subject.
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.
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. In 2011, for example, 23 April was Holy Saturday, so St. George's Day was moved to Monday 2 May. The Catholic Church in England and Wales has a similar practice.
Saint George is the patron saint of The Scout Movement, which has held St. George's Day parades since its first years. St. George is the patron saint of many other organisations. In the United States, the National Catholic Committee on Scouting uses the saint for many of their awards and activities.
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.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, St. George's Day is a provincial holiday, usually observed on the Monday nearest 23 April.
Hungary
St George's Day has a rich culture in Hungary, and in many regions it is one of the biggest celebrations, and was believed to hold mystical power. On this day, there was often a feast bigger than a wedding feast. It was a day of magical practices, forest walks and ritual bathing. They believed that this day marked the beginning of the real Spring. Celebrations, puppet shows and the appearance of the world's first secular order of knights, the Order of Saint George are common.According to the Hungarians, the witches held their, Witches Sabbath this day. Witches were believed to congregate on mountains, such as Gellért Hill. On this day, willow or birch twigs were put in windows and stables, incense was burnt around them, to ward off curses. The animals were given herbs and enchanted pogácsa, believed to have special properties.
Superstition said, whoever's gate jambs were carved by witches that night, that meant his cows milk was taken away. Dojdole traditions are also held this day. Similarly to this ritual, in other areas, girls, shepherds and sheep were thrown water at, not for rain but cow-milk stimulation.
The Roman Palilia, pagan shepherd's festival was the basis for later animal herding rituals. Many pastoral customs can be observed on this day. To ward off evil spirits and witches and to charm fertility, cattle were driven through on chains, axes or other objects. In Szeklerland Saint George's day fire was used instead. Shepherds were contracted on this day and offered eggs, szalonna, wine and pálinka and sing together.
It was not just a day of knighthood, folk celebration and the lifting of curses. It was for a reason that this day was thought to be of the Sabbath, St. George's Day was considered by Hungarian folklore to be a time for casting spells, when rituals were particularly powerful. This day, people were capable of dew-picking. It was believed that dew squeezed from the field into the pot multiplied the butter. Fertility could also be 'stolen'. If you stole dew from a field that was growing well and then wiped it on your own lawn, you could steal the fertility of their land.
But one must be careful, because at the dawn of Saint George's day the witches are also stealing dew, so you might catch a glimpse of them at road junctions. There are other supernatural beings to watch out for on this day. The Szépasszony spirits on this day, trick people and braid or entangle horses' manes. This can be guarded against by sprinkling blessed poppy seeds around the horses, saying:
by which you obligate the spirit to count all of them.
This day enables mortals to cast many other spells: for example, catching a snake on this day can give you great physical strength, but losing it will weaken you.
It was also considered a day for walking in the woods and treasure hunting. In Berettyóújfalu, it was believed that every seventh year, flames would burst out of the ground, revealing treasure, guarded by an old man.
Popular courses for the feast this day include: mutton pörkölt, Hungarian-grey-goulash, mangalitsa skewers.