By Kath & Jeremy Boot
April 22 2004

England's Patron Saint St. George! - Come and celebrate with us on St. George's Day - 23rd April, 2004. Who was Saint George? The Legends, The Meaning of the Symbols all the information kindly given by Innotts.co.uk. The symbols explained are that the Dragon represented Satan and the Princess represented the Christian Church.  

     

        

Yield to None!

Listen up - All of thee gentry and peasants!

Today is a very special day to all English folk!  Let us celebrate in true English Style with a little dancing, ale and merriment throughout this green and pleasant land for today is our Patron's Day.   

All Hail............. St. George Patron Saint of England.

Who was Saint George?

The life of Saint George is shrouded in legend, so much so that it is quite difficult to untangle fact from fiction. Much of the problem lies in the Acta Sancti Georgii (Acts of Saint George) written at a very early date and outlawed by Pope Gelasius in AD 496. Meanwhile the Greeks also had a set of Acts which were more accurate and quoted by Saint Andrew of Crete.

The Legends

The legends surrounding Saint George are very varied. One of them concerns the famous dragon, with which he is invariably portrayed. According to legend, a pagan town in Libya was being terrorised by a dragon. The locals kept throwing sheep to it to placate it, and when it still remained unsatisfied, they started sacrificing some of the citizenry. Finally the local princess was to be thrown also to the beast, but Good Saint George came along, slaughtered the dragon and rescued the fair princess. At this the townsfolk converted to Christianity

 

The Meaning of the Symbols

The symbols explained are that the Dragon represented Satan and the Princess represented the Christian Church. Saint George rescued the pagans from evil by vanquishing it and saved the Church from being devoured by the insatiable forces of darkness.

Much more information here - Innotts.co.uk.

Special thanks goes to Jeremy Boot of Innotts.co.uk for allowing Unofficial England to use copy and photos from his site - big Thank you Jeremy.

Our Shield was created by Tiger_ress-our Motto is Yield to None!

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