Saint George – the Martyr, the Knight, and the Weather Prophet
Saint George’s Day, celebrated on April 24th, has been regarded in several European cultures as the beginning of spring. Even ancient Roman shepherds held various rituals during this period, and within the Christian tradition, the feast of Saint George the Dragon Slayer was placed on this date. In Hungarian folk tradition, it is also a significant spring day - its customs rooted in pagan rituals. Our current exhibition explores these traditions, along with the figure of Saint George himself and the symbolism of the dragon.
The Legend of Saint George
The tale of the knight who slays a dragon and rescues a princess is one of the best-known legends in the cultural history of Europe. George was a soldier from Cappadocia in the 3rd century and later became an early Christian martyr after refusing to renounce his faith during the persecutions. The dragon motif was only added much later - in the 10th century - to the miraculous stories detailing George’s death and resurrections. He is a patron saint many times over: most often of warriors (soldiers, knights, artillerymen), but also of the wounded, scouts, and blacksmiths, as well as entire nations. He enjoys great reverence in countries such as Hungary and England. In England, Richard the Lionheart attributed his victories in the Crusades to Saint George and regarded him as a kind of personal protector.
Saint George was venerated by both the Roman and Byzantine branches of Christianity, which helped spread his cult widely. Due to Byzantine influence, the veneration of Saint George appeared in Hungary shortly before the reign of King Saint Stephen. In 1326, Charles Robert founded the first secular order of knighthood, the still-functioning Order of Saint George. He frequently appears in iconography and other visual arts, characteristically depicted as a warrior on horseback battling a dragon. His main attributes include the sword, the lance, and the shield.
Dragon Symbolism
The dragon-slaying hero is a common archetype in the folktales of many peoples since antiquity and appears in religious legends as well. Among the most famous dragon-slayers in these traditions are Saint George and Saint Michael. These stories typically rely on symbolic dualities such as good versus evil, light versus darkness, and spring versus winter. Hungarian folktales also include stories of dragons, princesses, and valiant knights who rescue them - tales in which the ancient motif of human sacrifice can often be discerned.
Folk Traditions
The folk customs associated with Saint George’s Day are closely tied to the arrival of spring and the start of seasonal agricultural work. One of Hungary’s most well-known children’s songs also originally served as an invocation for the sun on this day: “Shine, sun, on Saint George’s Day / My little goslings are freezing under the garden wall.”
This day marked the first time livestock were driven out to pasture - typically with green branches, which were believed to ward off evil and had a fertility-invoking role as well. Animals were often driven through smoke, or buildings were fumigated, in an effort to banish illness and malevolent forces. A similar type of magical practice was the so-called “enclosure” ritual, during which poppy seeds were scattered around the area to be protected.
“On Saint George’s Day, it's bad to sew, because then you sew up the hens’ behinds. And we also went into the forest to break off birch branches. Then we stuck them into the stable doors, the pigsty doors, the gates, on trees - everywhere - so that witches wouldn't press down on the people or the animals… They said: ‘I was sewing on Saint Mark’s Day / and on Saint George’s Day I went blind.’ That’s why we weren’t allowed to sew on Saint George’s Day. Nor on Saint Mark’s Day either, because the old beggar said he was sewing and then went blind. That’s what I heard from my mama.” - Pogányszentpéter, Mihályné Mitnyek, 1921
“On Saint George’s Day, we went out at dawn to wash in the dew. We washed ourselves with the dew but didn’t dry off, so that our faces would always stay as soft as the dew itself. But this always had to be done before sunrise on Saint George’s Day.” - Mesztegnyő, Györgyné Sebestyén, 1912
Saint George’s Day was also used for weather prediction. Spring thunder before the feast day was thought to promise an abundant harvest. If frogs were heard croaking on the day itself, it meant that spring and summer would arrive early. Catching a snake or a lizard before Saint George’s Day was believed to help prevent diphtheria, a common illness of the time, and these were used in various folk remedies involving other reptiles as well. In agricultural terms, Saint George’s Day was considered ideal for sowing beans, corn, and cucumbers.
One lesser-known tradition today is the Saint George’s Day “Shooting Out” (kilövés). During this nighttime ritual, young men would gather around large bonfires, leap over the flames, dance, and shout out the faults and bad habits of girls and women—figuratively “shooting them out” into the world. No one was named directly, but women would hide away during this time. Sometimes, spoken pairings of boys and girls would also occur as part of the festivities.
TEJ
translated by László Gönczi
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