Hi, kids!. World Book Day is a yearly event on 23rd April, but we are going to celebrate it next week in our school, as we will be on holidays!. It is organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright.
The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day.
In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on this date the date is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare, the death of Miguel de Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Josep Pla, and the birth of Maurice Druon, Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Halldór Laxness.
In England St George's Day is also celebrated on 23rd April each year. It's a great excuse to enjoy or learn about some of England's customs and traditions, and also to think about knights and castles and dragons!. This is the topic we're dealing with in our first cycle this year to celebrate Carnival and the World Book Day!.
So, let me tell you the story of Saint George...
Who Was St George?
St George is the patron saint of England. He was a Roman soldier who protested against the Roman torture of Christians, and was killed for his beliefs. He is most famous for the story of his fight against the dragon.
Saint George and the Dragon Story
There was once a city called Silene. The people of Silene were not Christians but they were happy. One day, however, a dragon decided to make its nest near the lake where people from the village collected some water .Life became very difficult for them! .Many men tried to fight the dragon or chase it away, but they all failed.
As they had to have water, the people of Silene came up with a plan. They would distract the dragon by taking him a sheep every day, for a meal. While he was busy eating, they quickly took the water they needed.
Everything worked fine for a while, but one day they didn't have any more sheep to offer the dragon!. They became more and more thirsty and eventually, in desperation, they decided to take the dragon a young girl instead. Lots were drawn to see which young girl would be chosen each day.
One day, Silene's princess was the chosen maiden!. The king begged for his daughter to be spared, but nobody listened, and the princess was dragged off to meet the dragon like the other young girls before her.
While the princess stood before the dragon, trying to be brave, Saint George rode by on his horse. Seeing the pretty princess and realising the situation, he made the sign of the cross (to show he was a Christian), bravely fought the dragon and rescued the princess!.The citizens were so impressed with his bravery that they converted to Christianity. The dragon was covered in blood. And from the dragon’s blood a beautiful rose was born. Saint George gave this rose to the princess.
Watch the story in this video!. It is a short version!:
This video is more difficult and tells you more details about the story:
In Catalonia (Spain) is is celebrated "La Diada de Sant Jordi" , (Saint George's Day), also known as "The Day of the Rose" or "The Day of the Book" Historically, men gave women roses, and women gave men a book to celebrate the occasion. Nowadays, the mutual exchange of books is also customary.
We have studied and worked "The Legend of Saint George and the Dragon" in our school. Pupils of the 1st and 2nd form helped me to colour and decorate the pictures of the story and other visuals to display them in a nice and big poster. Once finished it, I told them the story and they loved it!. Pupils of the 6th form helped me to improve the pictures and write the story in the Past Tense. They listened to the story as well.
I'm very proud of my students because they're doing their best.
I'd like to show you some photographs of the poster I mentioned before, that it was done in these lessons.
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