THE ORIGINS OF THE FESTIVAL
St George is the Patron Saint of England and one of the most famous of Christian figures. But of the man himself, nothing is certainly known. The earliest possible source, Eusebius of Caesarea, writing around 322 AD, tells of a 'man of the greatest distinction' who was put to death under the Roman Emperor Diocletian at Nicomedia (present-day Palestine) on April 23rd, 303 AD, but makes no mention of his name, his country, his place of trial or his place of burial.

George is believed to have come from Cappadocia (in modern Turkey) and was raised in Palestine, and held the important rank of tribune in the Roman army. He was beheaded by Diocletian for protesting against the Emperor's persecution of Christians. In some versions, George is identified as the soldier who tore down the posted proclamation suppressing the Christian religion and confronted the Emperor to condemn him for requiring soldiers to sacrifice to the pagan gods. Diocletian first had George tortured to make him sacrifice but when he still refused, sentenced him to death by beheading. The early sources give graphic descriptions of George's imprisonment and his successful endurance of a series of horrific tortures. He so impressed the Emperor's wife, Alexandria, that she converted to Christianity, and was duly executed too. George's body was taken from Nicomedia to Lydda by his mother, who had estates there. Miracles of healing soon began to be claimed by many who had visited his tomb, and early pilgrims would take dust away to bring blessings on their families, flocks, herds and houses.

George rapidly became a saint in Palestine and was held on equal footing with Moses, Elijah and St. Michael. His cult was adopted as a martyr of exceptional bravery, defender of the poor and the defenceless and of the Christian faith. St George on his white horse came to be regarded as the quintessential Christian soldier, whose protection was increasingly invoked in the Near East as the Christian communities were attacked by the Saracens. George thus became the patron saint of the Crusades. Armies reported visions of St. George before victorious battles and he became more and more popular.

Just why he became the patron saint of England ….and Greece.…and Canada….and the Scout Movement….and sundry unmentionable diseases.…is far from clear. There is no evidence that George ever left the Near East, much less travelled to England. One very plausible theory ties up with the Norman Conquest and the subsequent suppression of the English accompanied by the destruction of much pre-Norman heritage and tradition. The Anglo-Saxon word for "bygone days" is geogeara and it is quite possible that yearnings for things as they used to be brought up the connection with the name of the saint whose stories were being told by returning soldiers. Many of the legends attached to St. George bear a remarkable resemblance to tales of King Arthur and ancient British and English folklore, and the dragon, associated with St. George, is also a powerful pre-Norman symbol, but whatever the reason, St. George was adopted as Patron Saint of England and his day is celebrated on April 23rd, the anniversary of his death.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS ASSOCIATED WITH ST. GEORGE
The first thing anybody thinks about in connection with St. George is dragons. Everybody has heard of "St. George and the dragon" and there are countless "George and Dragon" pubs, but when pushed, people are less certain about the actual details of the story.

The story, which first gained popularity in the 14th century, is set in Libya (or Lydda, depending on which translation you read), where a dragon was terrorising the local populace who tried to appease it by feeding it all their flocks of sheep. When all the sheep had been eaten, they turned to human sacrifices but even so the beast continued to destroy the countryside. Finally, it was decided to sacrifice the princess in a last-ditch attempt to buy off the dragon. Fortunately for her, along came St. George on his trusty white charger and duly slew the offending dragon, freeing the princess in the process. It is said that the story is allegorical, with the dragon representing Satan and the princess representing the Christian church. It does not, however, take a major leap to connect the story of George and the Dragon with the equally well-known myth of Perseus and Andromeda, and so it could be another case of the Church adapting a good pagan story and using it for its own purposes.

The story of Saint George and the Dragon is often portrayed by Morris Dancers, frequently confused or combined with the dancing "hobby-horse."

More Dragon Stories
The Lampton (or Lambton) Worm
There once was a nobleman named Lord Lampton who lived in County Durham, in the north-east of England. As a boy, he went fishing in the River Wear, instead of going to church. He caught no fish, and so he started swearing at his bad luck. Suddenly there was a tug on his line. He pulled and he pulled, thinking it must be an enormous fish, but instead it was just six inches long and shaped like a worm, but with four legs, two wings, and nine holes in its head. Lampton threw it into a nearby well and promptly forgot about it.

The years went by and Lampton grew up. He went away to fight in the Crusades and did not return home for many years. Meanwhile, the worm in the well grew and grew. Finally it was big enough to get out of the well and went hunting for food. The farmers tried to kill it because it was eating their cows, but could not, so they began bringing milk to it just to keep it from wandering about. The worm continued to grow and soon needed the milk of ten cows each day. If milk was not given to it, the Worm would eat the cows and any farmers that it could catch. The worm was now enormous and went to live on a large rock in the middle of the River Wear.

After many years away, Lampton returned home and was met by his father, who immediately told his son of the terrible Worm that was causing such destruction, a Worm that had four legs, two wings, and nine holes in its head. When Lampton heard this, he felt responsible so he grabbed his sword and hurried to do battle with the beast. He found it sitting on its rock, and immediately attacked it. As the Worm tried to curl itself around him, Lampton swung his sword, and struck it again and again, trying to chop it into pieces. Then he realised that each time his blade cut the Worm in two, the two parts would wriggle to meet each other and the Worm would become whole once again. Lampton fought the Worm all day, but nothing he could do hurt the beast, and eventually he gave up and went back home.

The next day, Lampton went to consult a witch, who told him how the Worm might be destroyed. First, Lampton must have his armour covered all over with very sharp blades of steel, then he must wrestle with the Worm with his bare hands on its rock in the middle of the River Wear. As Lampton was about to hurry away, the witch added one more instruction. Once the Worm was dead, however, Lampton must kill the first living creature that he met or the death of the Worm would be avenged. He agreed, and Lampton went away to prepare for the battle.

The blacksmiths worked all night to make him his armour, and the next morning Lampton and his father made their way down to the River Wear. Along with them came the oldest of their hunting dogs. If the worm was defeated, Lampton's father would release the old dog and the son would kill it as instructed by the witch. Lampton waded out to the rock, dressed in his new armour, and went to do battle with the Worm. The sharp blades cut the Worm into pieces, which fell into the fast flowing river and were washed away before they could rejoin. The Worm grew smaller and smaller, until at last it was gone forever.

As he struggled back ashore, Lampton's father came running to him, quite forgetting the witch's instructions. As they hugged, they realised that now Lampton must slay his own father. This he would not do, and so the curse of the dragon stays with the Lampton family and no one who bore the name of Lampton from that day onwards ever died in bed.

There are many legends concerning dragons in ancient British and Celtic folklore : the Welsh red dragon owes its origins to the two fighting dragons owned by two opposing chieftains of Wales, Lludd and Llefelys. These two dragons - one white and one red - were so evenly matched that neither could overcome the other, but eventually the red dragon emerged victorious. This story was interpreted by the bard Myrddin - the Merlin of king Arthur's court - to mean that the Welsh (symbolised by the red dragon) would have to fight long and hard to overcome their oppressors (the white dragon) but would eventually win their freedom.