The Radio 3 Boards Forum from myforum365.com
16:44:23, 01-12-2008 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Whilst we happily welcome all genuine applications to our forum, there may be times when we need to suspend registration temporarily, for example when suffering attacks of spam.
 If you want to join us but find that the temporary suspension has been activated, please try again later.
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register  

The Radio 3 Boards > General Chat > The Coffee Bar > St George's Day
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6
« previous next »
  Print  
Author Topic: St George's Day  (Read 1445 times)
Reiner Torheit
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 3391



WWW
« Reply #45 on: 00:19:18, 24-04-2008 »
Quote from: thompson1780 on 23:36:27, 23-04-2008

Then again, I have been wondering who would be a good patron saint for us, and can't put my finger on Englishness or anyone who feels suitable. 

Oh I dunno, Tommo - surely it's extremely English to contract it out to foreign labour?  Wink  Let them do the sainting for us...
Logged
"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
-  Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
ahh
****
Posts: 266
« Reply #46 on: 00:51:14, 24-04-2008 »
This poem was commissioned by Radio 4's Today programme, to counter Brian Patten's English heritage commission.

It helps if read with Scots accent!


By George! by Elvis Mcgonagall

Once more unto the breach, dear Morris Dancers
    once more
Jingle your bells, thwack sticks, raise flagons
Cry “God for Harry and Saint George!”
Gallant knight and slayer of dragons
Patron saint of merry England –
And Georgia, and Catalonia, and Portugal, Beirut, Moscow
Istanbul, Germany, Greece
Archers, farmers, boy scouts, butchers and sufferers of
   syphilis
Multicultural icon with sword and codpiece
On, on you bullet-headed saxon sons
Fly flags from white van and cab
But remember stout yeomen, your champion was Turkish
So – get drunk and have a kebab


The Brian Patten poem is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/arts/st_george_20080423.shtml
Logged
insert favoured witticism here
IgnorantRockFan
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 794



WWW
« Reply #47 on: 09:54:03, 24-04-2008 »
Quote from: thompson1780 on 23:36:27, 23-04-2008
I do find it odd that we have a patron saint who was a Roman-Anatolian and had nothing to do with our nation.  I don't even get that he is particularly English.

Well Jesus wasn't particularly English either but we still made him the official religion  Undecided . If he could spread to Britain via Rome, why not some of his associated saints?

Wasn't it because George wasn't English, and therefore not associated with a particular place or deed in England, that he was "up for grabs", unlike our home-grown maytrs who were already spoken for?

For example, if we had a saint who was known to cure some lepers in Chelmsford, he would have a shrine in Chelmsford and he would be *their* saint, not England's saint. Nobody would build a shrine to him in Cornwall or Northumberland. But because George wasn't venerated at any one spot in England people were free to build his shrines anywhere and they apparently did.

Does anybody know when St. George's day stopped being a feast day in England? It was celebrated until at least the Reformation I think, and I believe it was still celebrated after that, but I don't know when it stopped.
Logged
Allegro, ma non tanto
Mary Chambers
*****
Gender: Female
Posts: 2589
« Reply #48 on: 09:59:30, 24-04-2008 »
I don't think either of the poems in ahh's Post #46 is very good. Not that I can think of a St George's day poem that is - or even think of one at all. There must be others.
Logged
richard barrett
*****
Posts: 3123
« Reply #49 on: 10:02:36, 24-04-2008 »
Quote from: IgnorantRockFan on 09:54:03, 24-04-2008
Jesus wasn't particularly English either

... not with a Mexican name like that...

(I'll get my poncho)
Logged
thompson1780
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 3615
« Reply #50 on: 10:46:27, 24-04-2008 »
Quote from: IgnorantRockFan on 09:54:03, 24-04-2008
Well Jesus wasn't particularly English either but we still made him the official religion  Undecided . If he could spread to Britain via Rome, why not some of his associated saints?

True, but then again Religion is a concept which is not necessarily particular to a Nation (several nations may adopt a religion, and indeed a Religion may not be asscociated with any Nation).  However, Patron Saint of a Nation is, er, national.

But I get your point - Saint is a religious concept, so there is some blurring going on here.

Tommo
Logged
Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
IgnorantRockFan
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 794



WWW
« Reply #51 on: 11:18:20, 24-04-2008 »
Quote from: richard barrett on 10:02:36, 24-04-2008
Quote from: IgnorantRockFan on 09:54:03, 24-04-2008
Jesus wasn't particularly English either

... not with a Mexican name like that...

(I'll get my poncho)

 Cheesy
Logged
Allegro, ma non tanto
brassbandmaestro
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 2216


The ties that bind
« Reply #52 on: 13:53:06, 24-04-2008 »
We celebrated St G's Day yesterday at work. We gave the residents a full roast din ner with all the trimmers and music to plus red and ballons flags everywhere. Very nice it looked to!!!
Logged
perfect wagnerite
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 1568
« Reply #53 on: 14:09:33, 24-04-2008 »
Moi, j’ai passé la fête de S. Georges á Bruxelles, la capitale d’Europe.  Désolé. Wink
Logged
At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
ahh
****
Posts: 266
« Reply #54 on: 14:09:50, 24-04-2008 »
Quote from: brassbandmaestro on 13:53:06, 24-04-2008
We celebrated St G's Day yesterday at work. We gave the residents a full roast din ner with all the trimmers and music

Handel maybe?  Wink
Logged
insert favoured witticism here
Reiner Torheit
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 3391



WWW
« Reply #55 on: 20:26:36, 24-04-2008 »
Surely St Michael is England's national saint?



Or is that the "other" forum? Wink
Logged
"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
-  Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
Antheil
*****
Gender: Female
Posts: 3206
« Reply #56 on: 20:40:31, 24-04-2008 »
Quote from: Reiner Torheit on 20:26:36, 24-04-2008
Surely St Michael is England's national saint?



Or is that the "other" forum? Wink

On the grounds of good taste I have withdrawn my previous postings
« Last Edit: 20:51:08, 24-04-2008 by Antheil the Termite Lover » Logged
Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
Don Basilio
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 2682


Era solo un mio sospetto
« Reply #57 on: 22:24:50, 25-04-2008 »
I believe St George was also a patron saint of Russia (where they certainly do not need the Pope to tell them who is their heavenly patron) and possibly Portugal.  Certainly the old fortress in Lisbon is named after St George.

And I was very recently introduce to a very pleasant and charming young man who was

A Portuguese and

B called Jorge.
Logged
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
Reiner Torheit
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 3391



WWW
« Reply #58 on: 22:42:20, 25-04-2008 »
Quote from: Don Basilio on 22:24:50, 25-04-2008
I believe St George was also a patron saint of Russia (where they certainly do not need the Pope to tell them who is their heavenly patron) and possibly Portugal.  Certainly the old fortress in Lisbon is named after St George.

I think the Russian one is a different George?  He's a slavic one whose name is Gyorgy.  There are a whole batch of them who are frequently confused one with another.  It was the local cult of these multiple Georges that's said to have given the English name "Georgia" to the country next-door to Armenia.  (The country doesn't call itself that at all - it uses the name "Sakartvelo", and the inhabitants are "Kartveli" - but hasn't tried to force this name into general use).  Of course, "Georgia" borders ancient Anatolia... 
Logged
"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
-  Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
Don Basilio
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 2682


Era solo un mio sospetto
« Reply #59 on: 22:48:00, 25-04-2008 »
No, Comrade Torheit.  The Holy and Great Martyr beloved of the Orthodox is the same as the patron of the Knights of the Garter at Windsor.  He is the patron saint of the Ecumenical Patriarch's own church in Constantinople / Istanbul. 

When I was visiting Aleppo in Syria some ten or more years ago, I found his reputed tomb at the citadeal, much venerated by Muslims.
Logged
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6
  Print  
« previous next »
 
Jump to: