St George for England!!!!!

St. George's Day is on 23 April. It is England's national day.

Who was St George?

St. George is the patron saint of England. His emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England, and part of the British flag. St George's emblem was adopted by Richard The Lion Heart and brought to England in the 12th century. The king's soldiers wore it on their tunics to avoid confusion in battle.   

Like England, every country within the United Kingdom has its own patron saint who in times of great peril is called upon to help save the country from its enemies. For instant, Wales has St David, St Patrick for Northern Ireland and St Andrew for Scotland.

Who was the real St George and what did he do to become England's patron saint?

St. George was born in Turkey sometime in the third century. At the age of seventeen he joined the Roman army and became renowned for his bravery and feats of arms. The most famous story of St. George is that he slew a Dragon somewhere in Libya. On one of his missions, St. George was sent to England. While in England he heard about the horrible persecutions of Christians in Rome. Returning to Rome, George pleaded for mercy for the Christians, but in the end was himself beheaded when he refused to renounce his faith. In 1222 AD, the Council of Oxford declared St. George as the Patron Saint of England (replacing Edward the Confessor).

St George is always depicted as a knight carrying a shield with a red cross (or a banner with a red cross), generally sitting upon a horse and always killing a dragon. 

How does England celebrate St George's Day?

By tradition, 23 April is the day for a red rose in the button hole, the national flower. However, unlike other countries, England does not celebrate it like Americans celebrate 4 July with fireworks. In fact, you are more likely to see big St Patrick parades in England celebrating Ireland's National Day, more than you would see any sign of St Georges Day being celebrated.

For most people in England St George's Day is just another ordinary working day.

Factoid!

Shakespeare was born on 23 April 1564 and he died on the same day in 1616.

Whilst not all of the following, strictly speaking, have much to do with St George and the Dragon you will have to admit they do have something to do with dragons!

 Pink Dragon Silk Scarf by AltheaP

 New Dragon’s Blood Soap by AJs Country Cottage

Sewing Pattern – Little Fairytale Dragon by Fantasy Creations

Vintage St George and the Dragon by Nonnie’s Treasures

Red Vintage Dragon by  ByTheWayside

Like what you see?  Why not ‘pop’ over to see other fantastic items from the BBEST Team on Etsy!

Sint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas

The month of December means different things to different people.  The well known celebration for most is, of course, Christmas with all its religious and pagan festivals.  However, earlier in the month Holland, Belgium and France and other Roman Catholic countries celebrate St Nicholas, the patron saint of children.  Other countries also celebrate including North America who call him Santa Claus.

It was alleged that during the American War of Independence, the inhabitants of New York, a former Dutch colonial town known as New Amsterdam, reinvented the Sinterklaas tradition as a symbol of the city's non English past!

Sinterklaas has a long white beard, wears a red bishop's dress and red mitre, or bishop's hat, and holds a long gold coloured staff with a fancy curled top. Sinterklaas carries a big book with all the children's names in it, which states whether they have been naughty or nice in the past year.

The temperament of Sinterklaas differs in some regions of the Netherlands and Belgium. In the Netherlands Sinterklaas is usually a nice, forgiving person. In Belgium, on the other hand, Sinterklaas is less forgiving (like he used to be in the Netherlands). He can be quite severe and takes naughty children back to Spain when they were not nice. "Saint-Nicolas" rides a white horse which gallops across the roof tops.

Traditionally Sinterklaas has a helper called Zwarte Piet who will give out treats to the children like sweets, ginger biscuits.  However, if the children have been naughty throughout the year he will fetch the children to stand in front of Sinterklaas to be admonished. Etsy has a very good article about this feast http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/sinterklaas-a-crafty-tradition-544/

On the eve of Sinterklaas (5 December) all children place a shoe filled with a carrot, some straw for the white horse.  In the morning these items would be replaced by a traditional chocolate letter (usually their initial), speculaas (a shortbread type biscuit), chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil and a chocolate figurine of Sinterklaas wrapped in foil.  Songs would be sung to celebrate his coming journey to their houses.

Children were told that Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) looked that way because he had to descend the chimneys which made his hands and face appear black.  If children had been naughty he would leave a bag of salt rather than sweet treats.  If the children had been particularly naughty they were told that they risked being put in a sack and taken back to Spain where Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet lived for the rest of the year.  This story is no longer told as you can imagine!  However, I can well remember those stories when I was a child being brought up in a Dutch colony.  Parents and children would gather in the local community hall where Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet would appear.   With them they carried a golden book with the names of all the children who had been good that year and another book which was black in which the names of naughty children had been recorded.  Sinterklaas would start to look for a child's name in his 'good' book and scare the child by not finding it initially.  For obvious reasons this practice has been discouraged!  However, I remember it well and it put the fear of God into me - not that I had been naughty, of course!!

Nowadays, the feast of Sinterklaas has become as commercialised as any large celebration but it is still fun, especially all the sweet treats!  To learn more about this great tradition visit this link where the history is explained in more detail http://www.thehollandring.com/sinterklaas.shtml

So, my friends, I do not have any items to show off from my BBEST friends this time but I just thought this article might be of interest.  Remember to put your shoe outside your room and to put a carrot or straw in it; maybe even a bowl of water.  Who knows, if you have been good Zwarte Piet may leave some sweet treats for you!!!!