Living in Greece | #St_Georges_Day 2011 Confusion

Confusion reigns on #StGeorge'sDay 2011
For those Englishmen and women Living in Greece, should they celebrate St Georges Day on the traditional date of April 23 (set in the 13th Century) or May 2nd?

What on earth is going on?

Well it seems some bright spark in England thought that because April 23, 2011 is Easter Saturday then it would not be appropriate. Perhaps if St George was a pagan or anything like that, it would be understandable to move it from a devout weekend in the Church of England calendar. But the fact is, St George's parents were Christian and he was a Roman soldier fighting for Christian causes. On the other hand Roman soldiers did do things to Christ when he was on the cross to check he was dead. So I guess I answered my own point, if thinking aloud from an "association of ideas" angle.

Anyway, St Georges' Day is "officially" in England on May 2 in the year 2011! If I am correct that is Early May Bank Holiday Monday. I guess May 2nd is more appropriate to the celebrations of that long weekend and more aligned to another English tradition of May pole dancing (no, not that kind of pole dancing) that takes place in May.

So in this confused state over dates, it turns out that a lot of schools in England and other organisations are celebrating St Georges' Day with events on April 23 and the rest on May 2nd.

More of St George can be found on the BBC web page dedicated to St George.

So for any English expat Living in Greece or anywhere else in the world celebrating St Georges Day, you won't go wrong in 2011 if you choose April 23, or May 2, or both!