The day of the English

--What’s the meaning of April 23?

China has October 1. France has July 14. And the US has July 4.

Britain does not have a national day. There is no official time when the people of Britain get together to celebrate the country’s history and culture.

That’s because the British Isles is home to more than one

culture. The Welsh celebrate on March 1, the day of Dewi Sant. The Scots have Burns Night in memory of Robert Burns, their greatest poet. On March 17, people of Irish descent celebrate St Patrick’s day.

St Patrick is supposed to have converted the Irish to the

Christian religion and got rid of all the snakes in Ireland. In return, the Irish hold a day long party in his memory they happen to be. These are legendary festivals. People search amongst their ancestors for Irish names to give themselves the right to join in. If they can’t find any, they join in anyway. Everyone’s invited.

It was the English who invented Britain, getting the Welsh,

Irish and Scots to join them – often by force. Historically, the national days of Britain’s minority nations have been a kind of compensation for losing their independence. But the English somehow never got round to establishing their own national day. This seems strange for a people who are famous for being historically minded.

In fact there is an English National Day, and even a national

hero to go with it. In fact, St George wasn’t English. He was Palestinian, or maybe Turkish. No one is sure. He is usually shown in pictures killing a dragon to save a beautiful princess. According to the legend, the dragon represents evil and the princess is supposed to represent truth. The idea is that the English have always fought against the first in the name of the second.

In fact, the St George story is a piece of ancient military

propaganda. He was adopted in the 12th century, at a time when English troops were fighting in the Middle East. Britain has been having military adventure in that part of the world for hundreds of years. If the English could claim some local figure as their own, the idea was, then maybe people would think that they had a good mason to be there.

From that time, St George’s Day was declared to e on April 23.

St George is a busy hero. He also represents the people of Lithuania, Portugal and Catalonia. Perhaps because he is not really English, the English people as a whole have never taken to celebrating him. March 17 is party time. April 23 is just another day.

“Perhaps the time has come to drop his feast day from the

calendar in England,” says historian Robin Fox. “I don’t suppose anyone would mind, or even notice.”

That might be changing. As well of the traditional feast days of

Britain’s national minority cultures, in later years there have been the celebrations of the UK’s more recent migrant communities. Muslims whose families originate in Pakistan and Bangladesh celebrate Eid. People of Indian descent celebrate Diwali. And of course, there are Chinese New Year celebrations in every major city in Britain.

All these festivals are officially promoted to encourage

harmony between Britain’s different cultures – and many are also very profitable. But if everyone else in England can have their national and cultural days, why can’t the English?

Campaigners want St George’s Day declared a national holiday

and to have official support for parties and festivities across England. According to opinion polls, most English people seem to agree. But it’s not hard to get people to agree to having an extra day off work and a good time. St George himself is not a very inspiring figure. April 23 is also the birthday of William Shakespeare, the world’s most famous Englishman and certainly a person worth celebrating.

Opponents say the English don’t need to have a day set aside in

the calendar to remind themselves of who they are. And that is a good thing. Children may need parties but grown up nations should be self-confident enough to do without them.

National days are supposed to celebrate the character of the

nation. English people are supposed to be individualistic, stubborn and

private. An English person can have any opinion he or she wants about anything, including being English. That opinion is nobody else’s business. And he or she is not going to have a party just because the government says so. There is something about the whole idea of an English national day which somehow does not seem very English.

 Dewi Sant (exp): St David, the patron Saint of Wales  descent (n): coming from a particular national or ethnic group  compensation (n): something given in return for a loss

 propaganda (n): information designed to gain support for a cause, idea or nation

 feast day (exp): a day of celebration

 Eid (n): Muslim festival to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fasting period

 Diwali (n): the Hindu “festival of lights” held in November each year  inspiring (adj): filling with emotion, motivating people to do something

 individualistic (n): believing in independent thought or action  stubborn (adj): hard to persuade or influence