St George's Day

It is St George's Day...

so here is a little quiz, with answers. We normally are out helping at the St George's Day event outside the Heritage Centre on St Mary's Green, but of course it is cancelled. Have a good day.

For children there is a set of fun St George activities on the Yate Heritage Centre- Kids Zone

We actually don’t know much about St George but generally people agree on three things:

1) Was St George...

• English?
• Turkish?
• Greek?

2) What did St George do for a living?

• Priest
• Soldier
• Merchant

3)Which century did he live in ?

* 1st cen BC

* 2nd Cen AD

* 4th Cen AD

Ans He was from a Greek community in Cappadocia (which is now part of Turkey)

Ans He was a soldier in the Praetorian Guard (the personal guard) for the Roman emperor Diocletian

Ans He lived in 4th century AD (well it is thought he was martyred then)

But not much more is known. The dragon slaying didn’t turn up in the legend until the 11th century.

He seems to have been first treated as a saint in Syria, then it spread through the Middle East and really took off in Palestine. He is revered by Christians and Muslims throughout the Middle East.

So why did we end up with this Greek soldier who was revered in Syria?

The crusaders at the battle of Antioch in 1098 saw a vision of him. And then he appeared to them in Jerusalem. So it was the crusaders who brought back to England the idea of him as their Patron Saint. King Edward III of England in the 1300s used St George’s cross for his Order of the Garter and used it as a battle cry. And he became our Patron Saint.