St George`s Day and its Importance
On 23rd April this week many of us in the Cult of Woden and others within the folkish Wodenist/Wotanist/Odinist religion carried out sacred rights in honour of the dragon slayer which is at the root of St George`s Day or England Day as some of us prefer to say.
With the enforced christianisation of the Germanic peoples many of our old myths, festivals, feasts and holy days were appropriated by the church. What they could not eradicate they stole.
The same strategy applied when building church buildings. More often than not they chose sites which were sacred to our ancestors and our gods; sites of pre-christian temples, groves and burial grounds. The clergy knew that the people could not be prevented from carrying on with their old ways and practices and saw this method as the `lesser of two evils` for them.
St George`s Day is a typical example of this. According to Nigel Pennick in his Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition "Around this day is the remnant of an old festival of fertility, a week before the May Day ceremonies. St George`s Day is the traditional day for parades of dragons, hobby-horses and giant effegies through the streets. St George is a version of the northern hero Sigurd the Dragon-slayer, the Siegfried of Wagner`s opera."
Germanic mythology is full of stories of dragon-slayers, Siegfried or Sigurd being one of the most familiar but we also remember Beowulf whose last brave act before he died was the slaying of the dragon who had been tormenting the folk of his kingdom.
There are many local myths in England which recall the ancient memory of the dragon-slayer. I cite in particular the tale of the Lambton Wyrm:
[Taken from "Dragonorama"]
"The tale of the Lambton Wyrm (sometimes spelled Worm) is an English legend from the Middle Ages. It takes place near the River Wear in County Durham where Lambton Castle stands.
One day young John Lambton - heir to the Lambton name and estate - was out fishing in the river. After an unsuccessful day he finally caught something. Unfortunately it wasn't a fish but an unpleasant-looking eel-like creature.
Lambton threw the creature down a well (which became known as "Worm Well"), believing it would die. In fact it survived and grew - and grew.
Some years later, whilst John Lambton was away fighting in the Crusades, the wyrm, now fully grown, escaped from the well. It began to terrorise the region, killing and devouring local people.
The wyrm also kept on growing until it was large enough to wrap itself three times around the hill that was its home, which was unimaginatively named Worm Hill. The song of the Lambton Wyrm refers to "Pensher Hill", but some believe Worm Hill to be a small hillock to the North of the Wear near Fatfield Bridge.
John Lambton returned from the Crusades and swore to kill the Wyrm that he himself had unleashed. However he realised that it was too powerful for him.
So Lambton sought the help of a local witch. She agreed to cast a spell to help him, but there would be a price. After killing the Worm, Lambton would also have to kill the very next living creature he met on returning to Lambton Hall. He agreed.
With the help of the witch's spell and a coat of mail studded with spear-heads, John Lambton slew the Wyrm in a fierce battle. Exhausted from the battle, he returned home expecting to be met by one of the family dogs. In fact the first living thing he met was his father.
Lambton refused to kill his own father in cold blood. Because he broke his promise to the witch the Lambton family was cursed for nine generations."
There is much value in local folklore and nursery rhymes. They are the vestige of a pre-christian heritage. Jacob Grimm, the auther of Teutonic Mythology recognised this and together with his brother Wilhelm compiled a collection of nursery tales found throughout Germany which are known and cherished throughout the Germanic world.
The myth and symbol of the dragon-slayer is a part of our collective Aryan inheritance and traces of the dragon-slayer are to be found amongst all the Aryan peoples in varying degrees. Walter Keating Kelly writing in his Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore states:"He[Vrita] possessed himself of the sun-wheel and the treasures of heaven, seized the [white] women, kept them prisoners in his cavern, and `laid a curse` on the waters, until Indra released the captives and took off the curse."
The ancient flag of the Anglo-Saxon English people is the White Dragon flag. Here is a history of that sacred banner:
[Taken from White Dragon Flag of Anglo-Saxon England]
"About 450AD. came the landing in Celtic Britain of two warrior traders, Hengest and Horsa who, together with their Saxon, Angle and Jutish followers are traditionally regarded as the founders of England. History records that the White Dragon was their emblem. During the next four centuries, the Saxon, Angle and Jutish settlers; originally from North Germany, Denmark, Jutland and Norway, who, together with the Northmen or Vikings, would become known collectively as the English, advanced from East to West through Celtic Britain.
Various accounts of the times record many battles between armies carrying the Celtic British Red Dragon Banner (now the Welsh Dragon) and the White Dragon Flag of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes (the English Dragon). The White Dragon was, and still is, the emblem of Wessex, the territory of the West Saxons and the English King, Alfred the Great.
Had not the last panels been lost, it is likely that the White Dragon Flag would have been seen displayed on that same Tapestry featuring a scene at Westminster Abbey during a ceremony for the Usurper, William of Normandy.In a world with few certainties, the White Dragon Flag of the English people underlines our kinship with the past. It tells us from where we came and who we are. It imparts a sense of permanence and continuity. It is defining. Unlike St George's Cross, The White Dragon has no dubious religious connections or background unrelated to fact.
The successful re-emergence of the White Dragon Flag of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes (English) is entirely due to the thorough and detailed research conducted by The English Flag Society. This flag had been almost extinct for about nine hundred years. Investigation by John Green, Secretary of The English Flag Society, of the Early English period between the third and eleventh centuries A.D disclosed many references not only to the White Dragon Emblem, but also others, such as the Boar, Raven, Wolf etc.
Careful and scrupulous investigation, coupled with analysis of numerous references, showed clearly that the White Dragon, in terms of its representation of Englishness, was clearly the most popular. All the ethnic English who support the White Dragon Flag have declared themselves for their Anglo Saxon Jutish origins and drawn an invisible but unbreakable thread to the beginning of the English Nation in Celtic Britain.
Let the ethnic English, without triumphalism or overbearing pride, remind themselves that this modern world imperfect as it is, was made primarily by the Anglo Saxons. Almost all the benefits of modern life, including law, education, transport, medicine, entertainment and communications were derived in part or whole from the exertions of the English. Indeed, the first man on the moon was an American of Anglo Saxon descent!
Let all the English and their descendants, everywhere, whether in America, Canada, Australia or New Zealand remember, that wherever the English established themselves, for the most part, only benefit came from their presence."
It is of vital importance that all of us who are of English or related Germanic descent who reside in England honour St George`s Day and keep the memories and traditions of our Aryo-Germanic ancestors and gods alive in this nightmare multiracial and multicultural chaos that we find ourselves living in.
