Who is St George and why do we celebrate St George's Day – everything you need to know

St George’s Day will see Morris dancers take to the streets, free pints in pubs and English communities up and down the country celebrate the patron saint of England.

But apart from searching for St George’s Day events and things to do for kids, people are also looking up who St George was and why we celebrate St George’s Day in England, even if it doesn’t always get the same amount of attention as St Andrew’s Day in Scotland.

Saint George died on April 23, in the year 303. Believed to be a Roman soldier hailing from Cappadocian Greece (now modern-day Turkey), he was an early Christian martyr who is now venerated as a saint in Christianity.

George was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith, so the legend goes, and since then he has been immortalised in various myths, such as the legend of the dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tribute once a day. One day, the princess herself was chosen as the next offering. As she was walking toward the dragon’s cave, St. George saw her and asked her why she was crying. The princess told the saint about the dragon’s atrocities and asked him to flee immediately, in fear that he might be killed too. But the saint refused to flee, slew the dragon, and rescued the princess.

It isn’t just Christianity, though; George also became a legend in Islam.

Al-Thaʿlabi states that George was from Palestine and lived during the time of some of Jesus’s disciples, and that he was a prophetic figure in Islamic sources.

According to the myths, he was killed many times by the king of Mosul and resurrected each time. When the king tried to starve him, he touched a piece of dry wood brought by a woman and turned it green, with varieties of fruits and vegetables growing from it. After his fourth death, the city was burnt along with him.

The Royal family are the reason the patron saint of England isn’t English.

English Heritage explains: “Although St George never visited England, his reputation for virtue and holiness spread across Europe and his feast day – the 23rd April – was celebrated in England from at least the early 8th century.

He became popular with English kings. Edward I (1272-1307) had banners bearing the emblem of St George (a red cross on a white background), and Edward III (1327-77) had a strong interest in the saint and owned a relic of his blood.

“St George’s cross didn’t become England’s national flag until the early 16th century.”

Saint George’s Day began as The Feast of Saint George, a tradition celebrated by Christian countries of which St George is a saint, including England, but also Georgia, Ethiopia, Palestine, the Catalonia region of Spain, Greece, Portugal and many others.

Originally seen as important as Christmas in the Christian calendar, the day is usually celebrated on April 23, though the Church often moves it out of the way of Easter.