St George's Day Muted Celebrations in Luxembourg

St George's Day, also called the Feast of Saint George, is celebrated by various Christian Churches and by a number of countries and cities of around the world for which Saint George is the patron saint - including the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Georgia, Portugal, Romania as well as the Spanish communities of Cáceres, Alcoy, Aragon and Catalonia; St George's Day is also a state holiday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Whilst the British Embassy in Luxembourg will not be holding any celebration, Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Fleur Thomas, spoke with Chronicle.lu and said: "I welcome the revitalisation of celebrating national days across the Union. One of the UK's greatest assets is its diversity and on St George's Day, we get to celebrate everything English, be it traditional or new. I was born in England and I have Welsh heritage, but I celebrate all our National days!". She continued: "With this in mind, I'd like to wish all English people and anglophiles a very Happy St George's Day."

St George's Day is normally celebrated on 23 April; however, the Church of England agrees that no Saints' day should be celebrated between Palm Sunday and the Sunday after Easter Day so, if 23 April falls in that period, the celebrations are transferred to after it.

In recent years the popularity of St George's Day has increased gradually.

At St George's International School in Luxembourg-Hamm, where they follow the GSCE and A-level syllabus from England, they will be celebrating St George's Day this year. A spokesperson for the school informed Chronicle.lu: "This year due to timings of holidays, inspection visits and COVID-19, the school decided to downsize the St George's Day celebrations". They added that, as Friday 22 April is Earth Day, the school is organising a variety of activities in classrooms (in Primary especially) when St George's day is also celebrated.