St George's Day is celebrated in several nations of whom Saint George is the patron saint, including England, Georgia, Bulgaria, Portugal, and Catalonia. In England it is the National Day. April 23 was the date of Saint George's death in 303.
In 1969, Saint George's feast day was reduced to an optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar, and the solemnity of his commemoration depends on purely local observance. He is however still honoured as a saint of major importance by Eastern Orthodoxy. His feast date remains the second most important National Feast in Catalonia. There, it is known in Catalan as Diada de Sant Jordi and it is traditional to give a rose and a book to a loved one. This tradition inspired UNESCO to declare this the International Day of the Book, since 23 April 1616 was also the date of the death of the authors William Shakespeare (according to the Julian calendar) and Miguel de Cervantes (according to the Gregorian calendar).
copied and pasted from link [en.wikipedia.org]
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Apr 23, 2006 @ 10:47:42
