FEAST DAY
When is St George’s Day?
Find out if it is a bank holiday in England
ST George's Day is an important day of celebration in the United Kingdom.
Also known as the Feast of Saint George, here is everything you need to know.
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When is Saint George’s Day?
The feast day of Saint George is celebrated by various Christian Churches and several countries and cities where Saint George is the patron saint – including England.
The day is celebrated on April 23 each year – this is the date traditionally accepted as his death in AD 303.
St George was beheaded for resigning his military post and protesting against his pagan leader, the Emperor Diocletian.
His emblem, a red cross on a white background was adopted by Richard The Lionheart and brought to England in the 12th century.
The country of Georgia also celebrates the feast of St George on April 23.
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Is it a bank holiday?
While St Patrick's Day and St Andrew's Day are bank holidays in Ireland and Scotland respectively, St George's Day is NOT a bank holiday in England.
The Feast of St George takes place in Trafalgar Square, London, every year, filled with food, music, and market stalls.
There is a petition which is signed by 75,000 people calling for Brits to get the day off on April 23 each year to celebrate all things English.
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Clive Boyton said a St George's Day bank holiday would be a chance to showcase English hospitality.
He said: "People might have ideas about the estate from seeing the flags.
"But we have every nationality you could think of here - Moroccans, Colombians, Ukrainians.
"I have German family myself and I've lived and worked all around the world.
"What I think is special about England from my travels is that we welcome everyone, we give everyone a chance to become English.
"That's why I like that we fly the St George's flag and have the murals on the estate.
"We're proud of how people can come from anywhere and feel proudly English.
St George's Day should be a Bank Holiday - it would a chance for different people to come together and celebrate"
Clive Boyton
"I'm amazed it isn't already a Bank Holiday, it should obviously be one."
The campaign for the April 23 Bank Holiday started with a petition launched by east London pensioner John Kelly.
April 23 is also widely recognised as the birth and death of William Shakespeare.
What is St George's Day?
April 23 marks the patron saint of England and celebrates the country's heritage.
Celebrations have diminished over the centuries, although some parades and public activities still take place every year.
The hymn Jerusalem is traditionally sung on the day and Morris Dancers usually perform around the country.
Many pubs are decorated with England's flag.
Who was Saint George and where did the legend of the dragon come from?
Although Saint George is England’s patron saint, George would likely have been a soldier somewhere in the Eastern Roman Empire, probably in what is now known as Turkey.
He is also the patron saint of Ethiopia, Georgia and Portugal, and cities such as Freiburg, Moscow and Beirut.
According to legend, George was martyred for his faith under Emperor Diocletian in the early fourth century, and there is a major shrine dedicated to him in Lod, Israel.
The earliest legend that features Saint George slaying a dragon dates to the 11th century.
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The tale may have started simply as a way to symbolise the triumph of good over evil.
But, the well-known story mainly comes down to the Golden Legend - a popular collection of saints’ lives written in the 13th century.
According to one version of the story, a town in Libya had a small lake inhabited by a dragon infected with the plague.
Many of the townsfolk were being killed by the dragon so they started feeding it two sheep a day to appease it.
When the town ran out of sheep, legend has it that the king devised a lottery system to feed the hungry dragon local children instead.
But, one day his own daughter was chosen and as she was being led down to the lake Saint George happened to ride past.
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The story says that George offered to slay the dragon but only if the people converted to Christianity.
They did, and the king later built a church where the dragon was slain.
Calls for St George's Day bank holiday
While many countries mark their patron saint’s day with a national holiday unfortunately St George’s Day isn’t one in England.
Over the years there have been numerous calls to make St George’s Day a bank holiday in England.
On St George’s Day 2017, Jeremy Corbyn said that a Labour government would make all four British saints' days into holidays for the whole UK.
While leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage also backed making St George's Day a bank holiday.
St Patrick's Day and St Andrew's Day are already bank holidays in Ireland and Scotland respectively.
But England and Wales do not have a national holiday for their respective saints - St George and St David.