Country Studies / Holidays / British National Days and flowers

British National Days and flowers.

National Days in Britain are not celebrated to the same extent as National Days in countries like France or America.

Scotland’s National Day in St. Andrew’s Day (30 November), which has now largely been overshadowed by Burns’ Night. St. Andrew, one of Christ’s twelve apostles, is the patron saint of Scotland. Some of his bones are said to have been brought to what is now St. Andrews in Fife during the 4^th century. Since medieval times the X-shaped saltire cross upon which St. Andrew was supposedly crucified has been the Scottish national symbol.

St. David’s Day (1March) is the national day of Wales. St David (c. 520-588), the patron saint of Wales, was the founder and first abbot-bishop of Menevia, now St. David’s in Dyfed, South Wales. The day is commemorated by the wearing of daffodils or leeks by patriotic Welsh people. Both plants are traditionally regarded as the national emblems of Wales.

England’s national day is St. George’s Day (23 April). St George is the patron saint of England. A story that first appeared in the 6^th century tells that St. George rescued a hapless maid by slaying a fearsome fire-breathing dragon! The saint’s name was shouted as a battle cry by English knights who fought beneath the red-cross banner of St. George during the Hundred Years War (1338-1453). This is immortalized in Shakespeare’s play Henry V in the lines:

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,

Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:

Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge

Cry “Good for Harry! England and Saint George!”

Today the red cross of St. George still files above every English parish church to mark the saint’s day.

St. Patrick’s Day (17^th March) is an official Bank Holiday in Northern Ireland. The work of St. Patrick (c. 389 - c. 461) was a vital factor in the spread of Christianity in Ireland. Born in Britain, he was carried off by pirates , and spent six years in slavery before escaping and training as a missionary. The day is marked by the wearing of shamrocks (a clover-like plant), the national badge of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

What are the Britain’s national flowers?

The national flower of England is the rose. The flower has been adopted as England’s emblem since the time of the wars of the Roses – civil wars (1455-1485) between the royal house of Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose) and the royal house of York (whose emblem was a white rose). The Yorkist regime ended with the defeat of king Richard III by the future Henry VII at Bosworth on 22 August 1485, and the two roses were united into the Tudor rose (a red rose with a white centre) by Henry VII when he married Elizabeth of York.

The national flower of Northern Ireland is shamrock, a three-leaved plant similar to clover which is said to have been used by St. Patrick to illustrate the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

The Scottish national flower is the thistle, a prickly-leaved purple flower which has first used in the 15^th century as a symbol of defence.

The three flowers – rose, thistle and shamrock – are often displayed beneath the shield on the Royal Coat of Arms.

The national flower of Wales is usually considered to be the daffodil, which is traditionally worn on St. David’s Day. However, the humble leek is also considered to be a traditional emblem of Wales, possibly because its colours, white over green, echo the ancient Welsh standard.