To not really like or approve of St George's Day?

[BlueDressingGown]

I don't like it and I don't really want my children to participate in our village parade.

I don't really give a monkeys about 'patron saints' and am not of the faith that initially made him a saint. I don't believe in saints. I don't think people should be sainted. He was nothing to do with England and never came to England. (I'm also not English, by the way, but now living in England, but that's not why I don't like him!)

I also feel that this day gets seized on by English nationalists and used to stir up racist feelings regarding people who 'aren't really English'.

Ignore it then.

yes don't do anything then - it's not compulsory

Our town has a lovely family day in the park with jousting and archery and stuff - kids love it - it's fun

Just be grateful that you don't live in Ireland

What edith said

Ignore it and let anyone celebrate it without your sad face spoiling their fun.

Are you here to intentionally goad like a fucker?

Bah humbug!

I am English and proud of it. We are so unpatriotic in this country compared to other nations.

Just ignore it.

Any problems with St Patrick's day, St David's day or St Andrew's day or is it just the English one you have a problem with?

Don't take part if you don't like it. It's not compulsory.

Lots of cultures have stories in their past that they celebrate and remember it's part of belonging and the heritage and joining people together.

Do you object to St Patrick's Day and people with no faith (who aren't even bloody Irish) getting shitfaced on Guinness? Do you object to Welsh atheists walking round with Leeks strapped to their arms on St David's Day? Do you object to non-religious Scots wearing kilts, listening to bagpipes and holding Celidhs on St Andrew's Day too? If so carry on.

I'm not Irish or Welsh so don't celebrate either of their special days but I'm not driven to moan or complain about it.

Or maybe you're just goading as San Diego said?

It worked. LOL

St George is a very busy saint and Thursday will be a special day in many places: Russia, Estonia, Catalonia, Georgia (of course) spring to mind. Google their celebrations, it might change your view of the day.

Well I will be parading with my brownies. I don't think anyone actually believes the dragon thing these days, and I think George was Turkish IRL.

I like it!! it has absolutely no impact on me at all, who cares what English nationalists do, lets all laugh at them and just mind our own business

Aw, it's my birthday.

Oh Christ, don't nip over to Barcelona to escape then, OP! Dragons, Georges, roses and books all over the place.

Over here you buy roses and books -stalls are all up and down the streets. People are busy browsing, buying, having a nice walk.

DS will be going to school in a dragon-embellished tshirt with a rose for his teacher. Last year, his nursery gave every child a book at no expense to parents.

Otherwise... yeah, just ignore it. And try and turn that frown upside down

It's so low key (most of the time) and quite frankly I feel on balance people of faith have a reasonably good time in this country, so we should celebrate St George's Day, with a bit of national pride and give thanks for the fact that we have a right to express our religious / cultural beliefs without fear of being persecuted.

StillStayingClassy I'm not goading at all - I'm expressing my opinion. Why the hell would I care about coming on a forum to goad people?! Goodness me. (Not sure how 'classy' your comment to me was by the way!)

I don't buy the 'Lots of cultures have stories in their past' thing - what story about St. George relates to England exactly??

I don't object to anyone doing any of the above-mentioned odd activities on the patron saints days but they're not something I approve of for me or mine.

The faith element of it is pretty weird too. So English people who are not Christian can only be patriotic by celebrating a (totally irrelevant) saint? Why not just have an 'England Day'?

I feel a bit bad for the English, as a previous poster said, it gets shared by so many countries,.it doesn't make it unique really. Although, makes it ironic that the Nationalist think it's all English! I have no problem with the day, I don't celebrate it myself. My kids probably will learn about it in school, but they will also learn about Saint David's as it's part of their heritage (plus Welsh traditional dress is far cuter, sorry guys ).

Unless your village parade includes some sort of religious blessing I'm not really sure why you're objecting on the grounds of it being a saint's day.

TBH it sounds like you might be better off raising your children in a city. Villages do tend to be a lot more traditional English values type of stylee.

My son grew up in a large city and can't ever remember anything being done at school to celebrate the day.

On a sadder note it will be the 6th anniversary of my husband's death.

Yes yabu. St George's day is about the lowest key national celebration it's possible to have. All the other countries make more of a song and dance about their days than the English. It's at most a few flags and a vague effort at a parade. And even that I've never come across irl. I quite like that Englishness about it. But otherwise it's an almost invisible event.

it's 'StillStayingClassySanDiego' thanks, not a personal reference,

Yes your opinion but bollocks all the same.

I think like anything it depends how it's done. Wasn't it Ken Livingstone who did the brilliant Trafalgar Square St George's Day celebrations back in the day, culminating in the one which had a big-screen showing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and a world record for Biggest Coconut-Shells-For-Hooves Soundtrack Attempt? I could get behind something like that, with unashamedly celebrated it but wasn't too pompous about it, either.

YABU

If it wasn't for him the whole country would be over-run with dragons.

Oh trice, parading with your brownies? I may just promenade with my cup cakes!