St Georges Day

[shelli]

So according to my ISP homepage we brits dont know how to celebrate St Georges Day.

The Victorians used to wear a red rose - but frankly thats just a bit - well Victorian - any suggestions as to how we should mark this day?

National Holiday would be good of course!

 

[piper]

The Victorians used to wear a red rose - but frankly thats just a bit - well Victorian

It's also Catalan - in Barcelona (and I presume the whole of Catalunya, but I've only seen it in Barcelona) San Jordi is a big day. Men give women a red rose, and women give men a book (sexist, or what?)

 

[shelli]

San Jordi is a big day.

Wey Aye Man!

Why do the Spanish care about St Georges Day?

 

[Nemesis]

Cultural Festivals: St. George



St. George is the patron saint of England. He's also the patron saint of Moscow, whose crest is St George slaying the dragon, and of Aragon, agricultural workers, archers, armourers, Boy Scouts, butchers, Canada, cavalry, chivalry, equestrians, farmers, Ferrara, field workers, Genoa, Georgia, Germany, Greece, horsemen, horses, husbandmen, Istanbul, knights, lepers and leprosy, Lithuania, the Order of the Garter, Palestine and Palestinian Christians, plague, Portugal, riders, saddle makers, skin diseases, soldiers and Venice.

Saint George (Sant Jordi in Catalan, San Jorge in Spanish) is also the Patron Saint of the six million inhabitants of Catalonia in northern Spain. When he wasn't slaying dragons he was apparently very romantic and chivalrous. Also known as "The Day of Lovers," the Catalonian La Diada de Sant Jordi is like Valentine's Day with some uniquely Latin twists. The main event is the exchange of gifts between sweethearts -- men give their novias roses, and women give their novios a book to celebrate the occasion. Roses have been associated with this day since mediaeval times, but the giving of books is a more recent marketing ploy. In 1923, a bookseller started to promote the holiday as a way to honour the near-simultaneous deaths of Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare on April 23, 1616. Barcelona, the main city in Catalonia, is the publishing capital of the Spanish-speaking world and this celebration of love and literacy was quickly adopted.

On Barcelona's principal street, Las Ramblas, and all over the city, hundreds of stands of roses and makeshift bookstalls are hastily set up for the occasion. By the end of the day, some four million roses and 400,000 books will have been purchased in the name of love. You will be hard-pressed to find a woman without a rose in hand, and half of the total yearly book sales in Catalonia take place on this occasion.

While La Diada de Sant Jordi is not an "official" holiday, most romantics ditch the office to stroll the beautiful streets of Barcelona and to take in the sultry springtime weather. Love is definitely in the air, but even if you don't have a novio to smooch on a park bench there are still plenty of things to see and do.

St George's Day is celebrated in England, in a somewhat more understated manner, on 23rd April every year.

http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=692&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=10095&EXPAND=239

 

[Penners]

St Georges Day... any suggestions as to how we should mark this day?

I shall celebrate it with a glass or two of burgundy, and a plate of sushi and sauerkraut.

Rule Britannia!

 

[JanieB]

Also Patron Saint of Cyprus.

 

[biffvernon]

We should celebrate St George's Day by gathering dandelions for wine. Unfortunatley, the recent chilly spell has delayed the flowers. I suggest St George's Day be postponed till next week.

(Our swallows returned on Monday though.)

 

[Penners]

Also Patron Saint of Cyprus.

Understandable, as he was supposedly born in Turkey.

 

[Nemesis]

Does it make you pee the bed more than other wine? (Not that Ihave ever done such at hing of course... I don't ever get so drunk... but I've never made dandelion wine.)

 

[Penners]

I suspect you'll find it's not the type of wine that makes you pee in bed, but the quantity.

Why don't you do some experimentation, and report back?

 

[Nemesis]

I have no pis en lit wine (or, in Olde Geordie, pittle the bed) with which to carry out a back to back, controlled experiment.

Maybe Biff can advise.

 

[Flyfisher]

- any suggestions as to how we should mark this day?

Slay a dragon?

 

[shelli]

We should celebrate St George's Day by gathering dandelions for wine. Unfortunatley, the recent chilly spell has delayed the flowers. I suggest St George's Day be postponed till next week.

(Our swallows returned on Monday though.)

V Good Idea -stops them setting seed - so you are actually gardening too.

Can you make wine out of ground elder?

(BTW - i know about romans introducing ground elder for eating - tastes like spinach - but I dont think i'd drink spinach wine - unless there was nothing else

 

[Gareth Hughes]

We should celebrate St George's Day by gathering dandelions for wine. Unfortunatley, the recent chilly spell has delayed the flowers. I suggest St George's Day be postponed till next week.

(Our swallows returned on Monday though.)

V Good Idea -stops them setting seed - so you are actually gardening too.

Can you make wine out of ground elder?

(BTW - i know about romans introducing ground elder for eating - tastes like spinach - but I dont think i'd drink spinach wine - unless there was nothing else

You haven't tried my old boss's Turnip Chardonnay, then. Or the Teabag Burgundy.

 

[Penners]

I'm a little concerned about the AOC ramifications of those brews.

 

[biffvernon]

After a lifetime of experimentation I have come to the conclusion that grapes make the best wine.

 

[Nemesis]

Apple and rhbarb makes pretty decent stuff too.

Not at all sure about tea bags, but I defer to Gareth's wisdom, as he sits at the right hand of Pennine Builder I expect.

 

[Penners]

grapes make the best wine.

Thanks for the recommendation, Biff. I must try some, sometime.