By Ahmakupa Tale, Our Cultural Correspondent

BBC Scotlandshire is proud to celebrate St George's Day alongside our close friends who have this as their national day, when they celebrate their nation, its values and its identity.

The Cross of St George flies even more proudly today, and it flies proudly in our hearts too.

The legend of St George and the dragon that he chased, is a myth brought back by Crusaders. In the legend, a dragon, which selfishly stopped townspeople from accessing water without a meter, was pacified by being given a sheep to enjoy.

If no sheep was available, a girl was substituted. Aberdeen supporters will appreciate that some behaviours have international acceptability.

When the Crusade against Islamic countries was mounted by Security Council members led by George Bush of the USA, Blair of the UK, and Aznar of Spain, their troops, among whom were some St George celebrants, inevitably confused politics, sex and drugs.

The idea of  their nation, being protectors of innocent maidens being eaten by dragons was an attractive one to apolitical, sex-crazed squaddies - some of whom used substances such as coffee. The iconography of the innocent maiden gratefully kissing her protector and saviour resonates to this day.

There is no evidence in earlier representations, however, that both participants had to close their eyes to do so, as in this modern representation of sexual foreplay.

Since those primitive times, however, women are no longer portrayed in a subordinate role. Indeed, in many tabloid newspapers, their assets are openly displayed. This is progress!

Sadly, in this country, the name George has lost popularity. Among our MPs there are only 8 Georges, 7 of them representing fine English constituencies and one from the Cornish nation . Among elected representatives from Scotlandshire, however, only 1 MSP, George Adam carries the glorious name, and he is a Paisley separatist. We have 1 MEP, George Lyon also from Paisley. Where are the great Georges of former times? Unbelievably, the Rangers website shows that even they are totally George-less. Former captain George Young must be birling in his grave.

Where are the former pillars of Georgist sobriety like George Best? Where, the moral rectitude of George Formby? Why is George only the fourth and last given name of the Duke of Rothesay? Why was Boy George such a crap entertainer? Why was George Kerevan allowed to ridicule and humiliate the Unionists on both Newsnicht and Scotland The Nicht?

Unfortunately, St George is also seen as a patron saint in other nations than our friends. In one, there was a march for St George which continued to be condemnatory of any Islamic influence.

On their Facebook page, St Georgists condemned the huge size of the mosque that seemed to dominate one of their southern cities (pictured). "This is on one of the main roads down to the front", said one. "So that mosque is is in our country jesus christ the size on it", scrawled another.

Fortunately, our sister country takes a very different view of St George's Day and sees it as a day to celebrate love and literacy.

The main event is the exchange of gifts between sweethearts, loved ones and colleagues. Historically, men gave women roses, and women gave men a book to celebrate the occasion—"a rose for love and a book forever." Taking up their stance, UNESCO has declared 23rd April as World Book and Copyright Day.

After the referendums in 2014, we look forward to even closer co-operation between Scotlandshire and the nation of St George. As George Orwell said in 1938, "Homage to Catalonia". As the people of that great nation celebrate their patron saint in the streets of Barcelona today, we say with them in their own tongue -

Visca Catalunya!

 Related Articles

Facebook : St George March for England

Wikipedia : Saint George's Day

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