\n<\/p>\n
St George’s Day is celebrated globally (Image: Getty)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n St George’s Day is the most important day in the calendar for England, but the patron saint is celebrated around the world in April and May \u2013 not just in the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While England will officially honor its patron saint on Thursday, April 23, many other countries will also pay their respects to the legendary figure who is championed in Christian and Islamic mythology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This means that St. George, who died 1,700 years ago in 303 AD, is celebrated by many countries around the world this week and beyond.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As explained by English Heritage: “England shares St George as its patron saint with Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Ethiopia and Catalonia and many of these places have their own festivals and celebrations in his honour.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Indeed, many more countries around the world will hold events for St. George, whom the Eastern Orthodox Church venerates as ‘a great martyr’.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Read more:<\/strong> St George’s Day date moved to 2026 as plans for future date change confirmed <\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong> St George’s Day London Tube attacks confirmed with exact date and time <\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Bulgaria, George’s Day is celebrated on 6 May and is a public holiday (unlike England, where it is still not a bank holiday).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina the day is also celebrated on 6 May, while in Egypt the day is celebrated on 1 May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In India, feasts and events for George are held from 27 April to 14 May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The nation of Georgia in Europe is not technically named after St. George, but does use the St. George’s Cross as its national flag, making it very similar to the English flag (always confusing during soccer matches).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n T\u00fcrkiye and Brazil also celebrate St. George, as well as Greece, Romania, Syria, Lebanon and others \u2013 a true international event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n English Heritage says: “He may be our national patron, St George was probably a Greek-speaker who lived and died in the Roman Near East. A Christian, he died a martyr in about 303 AD.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “His tomb in the city of Diospolis or Lydda (now Lod in Israel) in Roman Palestine soon attracted pilgrims.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It says of his mythology: \u201cDuring the Middle Ages, people, especially in German-speaking countries, believed that St. George was one of the ‘Fourteen Holy Helpers’ \u2013 a group of saints whose assistance was especially revered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe protection of St. George was invoked against many terrible diseases caused by many deadly and infectious causes, including the plague and leprosy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “Although George is often depicted in popular culture as a knight in shining armor, the truth is less fanciful. While St. George was portrayed as a chivalrous knight or warrior on horseback from the 11th century, it is more likely that he was an officer in the Roman army.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Indeed, the mythology of St. George is so universal that he is even mentioned in Muslim legends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Al-Thalabi says that George was from Palestine and lived at the time of some of Jesus’ disciples, and that he was a prophet in Islamic sources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to myths, he was killed several times by the king of Mosul and was resurrected each time. When the king tried to starve her, she touched a piece of dry wood brought by a woman and it turned green, from which a variety of fruits and vegetables began to grow. After his fourth death, the city was burned with him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This legendary figure was chosen by royalty in England, despite the fact that he had never visited this country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n English Heritage says: \u201cAlthough St George never visited England, his reputation for virtue and piety spread throughout Europe and his feast day \u2013 23 April \u2013 was celebrated in England from at least the early 8th century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He became popular among the British kings. Edward I (1272\u20131307) had banners bearing the symbol of St. George (a red cross on a white background), and Edward III (1327\u201377) had a keen interest in the saint and had a relic of his blood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “St George’s Cross did not become the national flag of England until the early 16th century.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" St George’s Day is celebrated globally (Image: Getty) St George’s Day is the most important day in the calendar for England, but the patron saint is celebrated around the world in April and May \u2013 not just in the UK. While England will officially honor its patron saint on Thursday, April 23, many other countries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":87827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[5637,573,150,4184,21608,615],"class_list":{"0":"post-87744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bible-news","8":"tag-celebrating","9":"tag-countries","10":"tag-day","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-georges","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87832,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87744\/revisions\/87832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}